With IIT-Delhi clarifying its stand that the MoU between the institute and the Mauritius Government for a research institute in that country stands legal, the HRD Ministry is now looking for a way out of the controversy since the faculty members of the prestigious institute on Tuesday also came out in support of its Director Raghunath Shevgaonkar, who has submitted his resignation from the post.
Faculty members led by Dr H Irani, Professor at Department of Mechanical Engineering, requested Shevgaonkar to withdraw his resignation. Meanwhile quoting sources, PTI reported that HRD Minister Smriti Irani met President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the Visitor of the IITs. While it remained unclear what transpired at the meeting, HRD Ministry sources maintained that Irani went to Rashtrapati Bhavan to enquire about the President's health.
Early in the day IIT-Delhi Chairman Vijay Bhatkar called on the HRD Minister and apprised her of the development and the feelings of the faculty of the institute over resignation of its Director.
The development came a day after the IIT-Delhi Alumni Association rallied behind the Director. On Tuesday, the faculty and alumni together resolved to rope in all the 16 IITs across the country to stop “political interferences” in the autonomy of the elite chain of institutes.
Incidentally, the HRD Ministry, which is the appointing authority of IIT Directors, is yet to accept Shevgaonkar’s resignation. The Director had resigned on December 26.
A top official of the HRD Ministry said that the Ministry and IIT-Delhi together are looking for “amicable options” to resolve the issue. Sources said they have gone through the chronological details of the MoU between IIT-Delhi and Mauritius and primarily found that “only one man” could not be blamed in the entire episode.
“This was not possible only with his (Shevgaonkar) consent. Other’s role would have to be looked thoroughly and we are examining the sequence of meetings and exchanges of emails or letters in this regard. As far as the Director IIT-Delhi is concerned, he has explained that he has offered to quit due to personal reasons,” said a top Ministry official.
The faculty members in a statement said that they were of the unanimous view that interference in the operational autonomy of IIT-Delhi (and IIT system in general) was the beginning of the end to excellence that has been achieved so far, or can be achieved in future, especially in the Indian context.
“For any academician, including all the faculty of IIT-Delhi and especially Prof Shevgaonkar, dignity and integrity are the sole assets of our lives. Thus, direct or indirect communication affecting these parameters is bound to create unrest in an otherwise peaceful mind that truly loves research and teaching. This is the spirit of IIT-Delhi. The faculty of IIT-Delhi stands by the decisions that its administration has taken to uphold the autonomy of the Institute. We request the Director, IIT-Delhi to withdraw his resignation,” said the statement.
On the controversy pertaining to an MoU between IIT and Mauritius Government, IIT-Delhi on Monday had clarified that International Institute of Technology Research Academy (IITRA) is not an extension campus of IIT-Delhi but an independent Research Academy named IITRA, Mauritius” and that the institute’s role is that of advisory only with no financial commitments.