ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa has asked President Dr Arif Alvi to convene a meeting of the International Islamic University Islamabad’s (IIUI) board of trustees (BoT) after the university failed to provide information regarding its affairs sought by the top judge through the SC registrar on time.

On Sept 22, the registrar sought details of various offices of the IIUI for the CJP, who is also a member of the IIUI BoT, by Sept 27.

The administration instead refused to provide the details by stating that the IIUI president was abroad and information could not be shared without the permission of President Arif Alvi, who is chancellor of the university.

The IIUI letter addressed to the SC registrar said that the “information can only be provided when the IIUI president returns and after obtaining permission” from the chancellor, President Alvi.

Official tells SC registrar details cannot be provided without Alvi’s permission

Subsequently, the SC registrar wrote a letter to President Alvi on Oct 2, who also heads the board of trustees, to call a meeting of the board.

“After assuming the office of Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Qazi Faez Isa instructed me to obtain some basic information…to enable him to perform his functions as a member of the board,” the registrar said, adding that Dr Ali Metab Alahmari, who described himself as director to the IIUI president, responded to the letter which had been addressed to the vice president of the university.

As per the response of the IIUI official cited by the SC registrar, “President of the university is abroad and the information… will only be provided when he returns and after obtaining the permission from the chancellor/chairman of board of trustees.”

The letter further said, “Mr President [Alvi], since you are the chancellor/chairman and as Dr Alahmari has unnecessarily involved you in a very simple matter, your valuable time is being encroached upon. The information sought was neither secret nor sensitive, which without hesitation, should have been provided. Dr Alahmari’s intransigence and involvement are inexplicable. He is not a board member and has intervened to audaciously prevent disclosure which also gives rise to misgivings, and prevents the board members from taking their responsibilities.”

According to the letter, it was expected that every employee of the university would be familiar with its law — the IIUI Ordinance 1985. “To assume powers which he does not possess, disrespect a board member, and unnecessarily disrupt and hinder a board member was uncalled for,” it said and added that Justice Isa “wants to improve standing of all universities and academies of which he is a member or chairman”. The CJP has already attended the meeting of the syndicate of Quaid-i-Azam University and also chaired a meeting of the board of governors of the Federal Judicial Academy.

“Therefore, on behalf of…chief justice…I request you to call a meeting of the board as soon as is convenient to yourself,” read the letter. It also stated that the mandatory minimum meetings of the board have not been held and the law has been repeatedly transgressed. As per the IIUI ordinance, it is mandatory for the board to meet once a year; however, the last meeting was held in 2020.

An IIUI faculty member told Dawn that the CJP had asked for details for his better understanding of the varsity affairs. But instead of providing the required details within the deadline, the university apparently resorted to delay tactics, he claimed.

He claimed that there were “several loopholes, irregularities as well as illegal appointments” made in the IIUI which might be the reason the university officials wanted to “avoid sharing the details with the CJP to buy some time”.

When contacted, IIUI spokesperson Nasir Farid said that the university will provide the required information to the CJP “as soon as possible after completing formalities”.

The spokesperson denied that the university administration was using delay tactics due to “irregularities” in its affairs.

“No, this is not the case, as I have already said, we will provide the details to CJP as soon as possible,” he insisted in a comment on alleged irregularities.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2023