ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa has sought details of various offices of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), apparently to keep himself updated about the affairs of the university ahead of a meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) expected to be held after a few months.

The CJP by virtue of his position, is a member of the board. An official of the university said that the registrar of the Supreme Court, through an official letter asked the IIUI to provide details of various offices for information of the top judge.

The letter dated September 22 asked the IIUI to provide details, such as when was the last meeting of the BoT held along with its minutes.

Similarly, the registrar’s office also directed the IIUI to provide a “detailed chart”, including names, qualifications, date of appointment, and the tenure of IIUI vice presidents, director general, deans, chairperson of departments, directors, additional directors, deputy directors and assistant directors in administration.

It further directed the IIUI to provide details of the budget for the years 2022-23 and 2023-24, details about students in the last five years, showing numbers of male and female students, including foreign students.

The university was directed to submit details by today (September 27).

An official of the IIUI told Dawn that the CJP was collecting the details of the varsity for his better understanding as he will attend the next meeting of the IIUI board as its member.

Recently, the CJP attended a meeting of the Quaid-i-Azam University syndicate wherein he “surprised” the participants with his comprehensive knowledge about the varsity, particularly the agenda item of the syndicate.

The board of trustees meeting of the IIUI is supposed to be held at least once a year, but since June 2020, the board has not convened.

Sources in the IIUI said that the university was planning to convene a board meeting within a few months; however, there has been no official announcement in this regard.

The IIUI Board of Trustees is headed by President Dr Arif Alvi and comprises at least 50 members hailing from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries.

The university, which is being run primarily with public funding has more than 30,000 students, making it one of the largest universities in the country.

A faculty member of IIU said: “The CJP is also a member of the Board of Trustees, the apex body of IIUI which appoints the president of the university; hence, as a member of BoT, he has every right to know about the varsity affairs.”

“Our BoT is an international body comprising members from many member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). It is not like the syndicate of any university headed by the VC, as the IIUI board is chaired by the president of Pakistan as its chancellor,” he added.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2023