A day after Congress uproar over shutting down of institutions in Amethi and RaeBareli, the Centre on justified the closure of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Amethi saying law did not permit off-campus centres and it was technically illegal.
HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, in the Rajya Sabha, said he wanted to respond to the issue and asserted that there was “no political vendetta”. IIIT, Amethi was sanctioned in 2005 and courses started in 2005-06. This was not a full-fledged IIIT, but an off-campus facility of IIIT in Allahabad.
“law does not permit off-campus centres of IIITs,” he said, adding that the one in Amethi, called Rajiv Gandhi IIIT, was “technically illegal”. The campus had one permanent facility and one faculty would travel daily from Allahabad. “Students were unhappy and wanted all faculties to be present there,” he said, adding that the students were agitating and wanted to be transferred to Allahabad.
