NEW DELHI: For over six months now, Jamia Millia Islamia University’s four major posts have been technically lying vacant and are occupied by ‘officiating’ administrators who are running the university. These important positions include, the Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Finance Officer and Controller of Examination.
The former Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar’s tenure had ended on November 12 when she had handed over the charge of the officiating Vice Chancellor to Eqbal Hussain.
Hussain is supposed to serve as the acting Vice Chancellor till the time an appointment is made to the post, an official statement had said. Akhtar was appointed as the vice chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia in April 2019 for a period of five years or till attaining the age of 70, whichever was earlier.
However, Hussain’s appointment was questioned and even had reached Delhi High Court. As per the Jamia Act, the term of Naib Shaikh ul Jamia shall be such as may be decided by the executive council but it shall not exceed in any case, five years or until the expiration of the term of office of the Vice Chancellor, whichever is earlier and he shall be eligible for reappointment.
The office of the Registrar through its order dated September 14, 2023, had also clearly stated that the term of Pro V-C will last till the expiry of the term of the present Vice-Chancellor or till she attains the age of 65 years or till further order, whichever is earlier.
The order had also stated that the position of the Pro V-C would terminate along with the completion of the term of Vice-Chancellor.
The court case against Eqbal Hussain is pending. Meanwhile, the Jamia University got another officiating Registrar recently on March 28, following an emergent situation arising out of the Court cases pending against the University challenging the age of superannuation for the post of Registrar as provided under Statute 5 (2) of the JMI Act, 1988.
It was in 2022, when the former officiating Registrar Professor Nazim Hussain Jafri was handed over these additional responsibilities of the Registrar. As per the official notification, Mohammad Hadis Lahiri, former deputy registrar was appointed as the officiating registrar on March 28, 2024.
In January 2020, Jafri had joined Jamia as the Controller of Examination. Jafri also has long list of cases against him, pending in the court. According to the sources, the former vice chancellor of the university had unilaterally appointed Dr Nazim Hussain Al-Jafri to the post of professor Department of History and Culture after the selection committee had found none suitable.