ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday maintained the decision of an election tribunal disqualifying former Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) minister Yousaf Ayub Khan for submitting a fake degree before the 2002 general elections.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Amir Hani Muslim heard the case relating to the fake degree of Yousuf Ayub Khan.

Khan was elected as a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly (MPA) on a PTI ticket from the PK-50, Haripur-II seat.

However, his opponent had challenged his graduation degree before the election tribunal.

During the course of proceedings before the tribunal, the registrar of the Punjab University had appeared as witness and produced the record which showed the degree submitted by Khan for the 2002 general elections as fake.

The tribunal disqualified Khan on September 27.

After the high court also rejected his appeal, Khan filed a plea in the Supreme Court against his ineligibility.

However, on Wednesday the three-judge bench rejected his plea and maintained the decision of his ineligibility by the tribunal and disposed of his petition.