Finally, the spar between the NIT, Rourkela Director SK Sarangi and its Board of Governors (BoG) Chairperson Vasantha Ramaswamy came to an end when the MHRD asked both of them to resign from their respective post on Friday.
Sources said the tug of war between the Director and Chairperson originally started in January 2015 with the dismissal of a probationary employee. Despite the intervention of MHRD, the matter was not resolved. Rather, the situation worsened when Director Prof Sarangi suspended Registrar SK Upadhyay on September 20, 2015 for dereliction of duty.
Although BoG chairperson Ramaswamy set aside the suspension, the Director declined to honour it citing rules that such an order could be given only by the complete BoG when it meets. Finally the matter was resolved in the BoG meeting.
But due to the row between the Chairperson and Director, the MHRD cut the plan grants given to NIT Rourkela in Q3 from Rs 40 crore to just Rs 5 crore. The stated reason for this major change was the internal tussle for control of the institute between the Director and the Chairperson. Due to that the development works of the institution were not only affected but also the students suffered in these conflicts.
The tussle took a new shape when the Chairperson questioned the continuity of service of the Director. She says that while Prof Sarangi was assigned the charge of Director, NITR in May 2011 for the third time, it was clearly mentioned that the tenure was of 5 years and age limit was 65 years which would be earlier. While Sarangi reached 65 in 2014 January, his service from February 2014 onwards is illegal and the decision taken by him thereafter would be null and void.
But according to a gazette notification published in November 2015 by the HRD Ministry, a person can continue as NIT Director till he reaches 70 years of age. The Chairperson still questions Sarangi’s continuance as the notification was issued much after earlier provision.
The other point the Chairperson has raised is also a pertinent one. Originally, Sarangi was Professor in Kharagpur IIT and came on a deputation to the NITR. As his retirement from Kharagpur IIT was January 2014 as per the rule, he was to join there at least for one day before retirement.
So, Sarangi was supposed to resign from the NITR before joining IIT, Kharagpur for formal retirement. But instead, Sarangi took leave from the NITR and joined IIT, Kharagpur and got retirement. It indicates he was in service in both the institution on a particular day which is also against the service code.
As the stalemate continued between the Chairperson and Director, the PMO instructed the MHRD to interfere and resolve it urgently for the bigger interest of a national repute institution. Accordingly the MHRD conducted a meeting in Delhi on Friday and asked both of them to resign from their respective post within a week.
It may be mentioned here that according to 5 years tenure provision the Director’s term was supposed to end in next month and the Chairperson’s in November 2017.
In the meantime, the MHRD has already fixed up the interview dates for May 7, 9 and 10 for selection of new Director. Now all eyes are on who would be the next Director and how he would react to the decisions taken by Prof Sarangi.