Supreme Court Orders ECP to initiate criminal proceedings under charges of forgery against Gill
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the appeal filed by the PML-N’s MPA from Sargodha, Rizwan Gill, against his disqualification from contesting polls after his BA degree was found to be fake.
A three-member bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, was hearing the appeal of Rizwan Gill.
The court upheld the decision of the Election Tribunal of the Lahore High Court (LHC) and dismissed the appeal of Gill with cost and ordered filing a criminal case against him for forgery.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in his remarks said people appearing before the courts make a mockery of the courts in public. He said much has been done in this country and now this process should come to an end. The chief justice said courts exist in this country and are performing their functions.
Justice Iftikhar said it is the responsibility of the returning officer to check the nomination papers and the task should not be left to the opposing candidate only. Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday in his remarks said it is a matter of shame that we are living in a country where such representatives come to the assemblies.
The LHC Election Tribunal on May 29 disqualified MPA Rizwan Gill for contesting the election on a bogus BA degree. The tribunal, by holding Gill’s election as illegal, had directed the chief election commissioner to conduct fresh election in the constituency.
Dr Nadia Aziz of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who had lost the election from PP-34 (Sargodha-IIV) in 2008, had questioned Gill’s qualification. She alleged that Gill had never passed his BA exam.
She alleged that Gill obtained the degree by tampering with the Punjab University record and his election be declared illegal. Rizwan Gill, later on filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the LHC Election Tribunal decision.
The court, however, upheld the decision of the LHC Election Tribunal and dismissed the appeal with cost and ordering filing of a criminal case against Rizwan Gill. APP adds: Earlier, the petitioner did not satisfy the bench’s queries regarding his academic qualification. Muhammad Akram Sheikh defended his client and said that these were mere allegations against his client.
All these MPA,MNA,Ministers who have used fake degrees in the election must be severly punished to give lesson to othres, even if PM or President or opposition any leader protect them or plead their cases they must also be arrested & punished. By using fake degrees these idiots reaches in the Assembly and decide the fate of the nation, so how they can be sincere or faithful to the nation, so punish them historically.