The Centre on Monday clarified that the resignations of heads of some educational bodies, including IIT-Delhi, were “entirely on personal reasons” and dismissed suggestions that they stepped down because of pressure from the HRD Ministry.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said since “the resignation were on personal reasons, no inquiry was called for”. The reply was in response to a question from the House member, Harivansh, whether the resignation of eminent persons such as Anil Kakodkar, R Shevgaonkar was due to pressure from the Ministry to appoint preferred persons.
“Dr Anil Kakodkar, chairperson, BoG, IIT Bombay requested to be relieved from his responsibilities as chairperson but agreed to continue till end of his tenure on May 11, 2015. Prof R Shevgaonkar, Director IIT Delhi submitted his resignation due to personal reasons. The Board of Governor (BoG) of IIT Delhi desired that in the larger interest of the institute, Shevgaonkar should continue as Director. Therefore the board endorsed the resignation which was accepted on June 1, 2015,”Irani said.
The resignations of Kakodkar and Shevgaonkar had kicked off a huge controversy in academic circles amid accusations that the Ministry was interfering the academic matters of institutes of higher learning.
In regards to resignation of former director of NCERT Parvin Sinclair, Irani said she had sought “pre-mature repatriation” from her post on “personal grounds”. She was repatriated to her parent office and relieved from NCERT on October 20, 2014.
Unconfirmed report, however, suggest a probe has been ordered against her by the Ministry. The Minister also talked about the Vice Chancellor of University of Hyderabad, saying he submitted his resignation on personal ground and demitted office on January 28, 2015.
The V-C of Assam University also submitted that he was unable to continue because of some family considerations and requested to treat the request as letter of resignation, the Minister said.