Senate Body Passes Bill for Merger of Aiwan-e-Iqbal with Iqbal Academy

The Senate Standing Committee on National Heritage and Culture on Tuesday passed the Iqbal Academy Pakistan Bill 2022 by a majority vote.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan on Tuesday and vetted the Bill for the merger of Iqbal Academy Pakistan and Aiwan-e-Iqbal.

The Bill was passed by the National Assembly and moved in the Senate Sitting held on 18th August 2022. The committee examined the bill clause by clause and passed it by majority vote.

Briefing the committee, the official highlighted that the Iqbal Academy of Pakistan (IAO) was founded in 1951 by the Iqbal Academy Act and re-enacted through the Iqbal Academy Ordinance No XXVI 1962. It is a statutory body of the Government of Pakistan and a center of excellence for Iqbal studies.

The Aiwan-e-Iqbal was created by a resolution of the defunct Ministry of Culture in 1984 with the sole purpose and objective of carrying out the master plan of the complex construction of the Aiwan which was completed in 1997. The Aiwan is being managed on an ad-hoc basis through a management committee, as it does not have a regular and sustainable administrative structure.

The Iqbal Academy Pakistan Bill, seeks to give effect to the merger of the two organizations, namely Iqbal Academy Pakistan and Aiwan-e-Iqbal, having been charged with a mandate aimed at the promotion of studies and research related to Allama Muhammad Iqbal, with the purpose to avoid duplication and weave both organizations in one administrative structure.