IIUI allows six acting deans to continue

Senior officials say acting president does not have authority to issue such order

ISLAMABAD:

The newly-installed, acting president of the International Islamic University Islamabad has allegedly allowed six provisional deans to continue in their roles against the university's rules and regulations.

Sources in the varsity said that the acting president of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) had issued an office order, in which it cited provisions under subsection three of Section 13 of the University Act and allowed all acting deans to remain in their posts until the permanent appointment of officials.

In this regard Professor Dr Tahir Hakeem was allowed to continue as the dean of the Sharia and Law faculty, Dr Hafiz Bashir was allowed to continue as the head of the Arabic faculty (even though his term as dean had expired in March 2019), Prof Dr Haroonur Rashid was allowed to continue as the dean of Principles of Religion faculty (his employment contract had expired over a year ago), Prof Dr Samina Yasmeen Malik was allowed to continue in the Faculty of Social Sciences (her employment contract expired on June 15, 2020), Prof Dr Muhammad Amir was allowed to continue in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, and Prof Dr Muhammad Sajid will continue as the acting dean of the Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences.

Sources said that the university's legal adviser had termed the appointment of the acting deans as a violation of the rules and the University Act. However, the acting president pressed ahead with issuing an official order for the acting deans to continue their work due to "pressure".

When contacted, IIUI Rector Dr Masoom Yaseenzai, said that the procedure for appointing deans in the varsity is fixed. He added that the university's law neither had the provisions to appoint acting deans nor did it empower an acting president to appoint acting deans.

He explained that in 2018, the varsity had received a recommendation of appointing acting deans and took it up in a meeting with its board of trustees - one of the key decision-making bodies for the varsity. During that meeting, Dr Yasinzai said, the then Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed led a committee to review the proposal and it explicitly recommended stopping the appointment of acting deans. It further concluded that acting deans have no legal status under the varsity's law, while the acting president is not authorized to issue such an order.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2020.