CPs.2693-2694 of 2018
3
credentials. The present case does not involve a fake or bogus degree
therefore none of the said precedents apply. In two of the above-cited cases,
namely, Muhammad Rizwan Gill and Abdul Ghafoor Lehri, documentary
and oral evidence was recorded to arrive at the adverse finding against the
returned candidate. No evidence was recorded in the instant case to sustain
the finding against the petitioner. Therefore, the rule laid down in the
judgments relied does not apply here. Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution
requires that the disqualification of an election candidate must be founded
on a declaration by a Court of law that such person is “not honest.” Any
judicial declaration must necessarily be based on evidence, oral or
documentary. A perusal of the judgment of the learned Appellate Tribunal
and the impugned judgment by the learned Division Bench of the High
Court do not refer to any positive evidence on the record to establish either
that the Sanad of Shahad-ul-Aalmia claimed by the petitioner in his
nomination papers in 2008 is bogus, forged or fake or that the petitioner
referred to the same knowingly and deliberately as being equivalent to a
graduate or postgraduate degree. The issue that the Sanad of Shahad-ulAalmia held by the petitioner was not equivalent to a graduate or
postgraduate degree has been decided affirmatively by the learned Appellate
Tribunal and the learned High Court solely on the basis that such fact is
undisputed by the petitioner. That omission does not constitute an admission
in order to have evidentiary value. It has been repeatedly held by this Court
that an admission should be unambiguous, unqualified and specific. [Ref:
Amir Bibi vs. Muhammad Khurshid (2003 SCMR 1261) and Macdonald
Layton & Co. Pak Ltd. vs. Uzin Export Import Foreign Trade Co. (1996
SCMR 696)]. Reference in this regard is also made to Muhammad Siddique