Four senior Rajya Sabha members have complained against the style of functioning of HRD Minister Smriti Irani and erosion in the standard of higher education to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. KC Tyagi of Janata Dal (U), D Raja of CPI, Rajeev Shukla of Congress and DP Tripathi of NCP have expressed unhappiness with Irani’s style of functioning as the HRD Minister. The MPs have alleged that Irani has been interfering with the functioning of premier universities in the country and thus requested the President and Modi to intervene to save the institutes, including the elite IITs.
The parliamentarians expressed “grave concern” over what they alleged was a “systematic erosion” of the autonomy of the institutions of higher education and urged Mukherjee to take measures to prevent “lasting damage.” In an apparent attack on Irani, the MPs said several recent incidents concerning IITs and other higher educational institutions had left them “greatly disturbed”.
“Whether it is the attack on persons of integrity and proven competence who head prestigious institutions such as IITs or Central Universities or distinguished personalities involved in the selection process, no one is being spared,” they alleged. “The autonomy and self-regulatory mechanism of institutions of higher education are being systematically eroded and damaged,” the statement claimed. The MPs were apparently referring to incidents involving distinguished scientist Anil Kakodkar, IIT-Delhi Director Raghunath K Shevgaonkar, whose resignation is yet to be accepted, and Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh.
“We call upon the President to exercise his wisdom to prevent lasting damage to some great institutions such as IITs and other universities of eminence,” they said. Kakodkar spoke out against bureaucratic interference in the institution. Kakodkar had resigned following differences with the HRD Ministry over the selection of some IIT Directors, but relented after Irani reportedly persuaded him over the phone.
Earlier, IIT Delhi Director R Shevgaonkar had resigned over sharp differences between him and the HRD Ministry on certain issues. However, his resignation has not been accepted yet. The Ministry is involved in a tug-of-war with Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh, to whom it has issued a show-cause notice.
While four Joint Secretaries have left during Irani’s tenure, Additional Secretary Amarjeet Sinha opted out of the HRD Ministry after a brief stint there. Sources in the Ministry said that recently the Minister was also apprised about the inordinate delay in disbursement of salary to the staff of National Bal Bhawan (NBB) for the past several months. This is not the first time that salary of the employees of NBB has been either delayed, withheld or disbursed in the middle of the month.
Further, in the latest snub to Irani, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has blocked appointment of her OSD Sanjay Kachru on the basis of an Intelligence Bureau report saying that the officer in question was in contact with his previous employers. Kachru had been working at high posts with prominent corporate houses before this and the PMO is understood to have construed this as a case of conflict of interest.