Even as the HRD Ministry on Monday set up a committee to look into the details of an MoU between IIT-Delhi and Mauritius, the institute stood by its Director Raghunath K Shevgaonkar claiming that no Government rules were violated in setting up of the International Institute of Technology Research Academy (IITRA), Mauritius.
A row has erupted over the premature resignation of Shevgaonkar allegedly due to “pressure” from the HRD Ministry to accede to two demands — to provide the IIT ground for a Cricket Academy that Sachin Tendulkar allegedly wants to open and to pay nearly `70 lakh to BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, a former IIT-Delhi faculty, as his “salary dues” between 1972 and 1981.
While Tendulkar denied the allegations, Swamy confronted saying the Director’s resignation should be seen in the perspective of faulty procedures followed for the MoU between IIT-Delhi and Mauritius.
However, IIT-Delhi Registrar on Monday said the resignation of Director is due to his personal reasons and not connected to the above issues or any other matter being reported in the media. Shevgaonkar’s resignation is yet to be accepted though.
Amidst the raging controversy, the Director has received full support from his institute and also the faculty members and Alumni Associations. Registrar of IIT-Delhi in a Press note said that the IITRA is not an extension campus of IIT-Delhi but an independent research academy named IITRA, Mauritius”. “IIT-Delhi’s role is only of advisory in nature. There is no financial commitment on part of IIT-Delhi,” said the note.
The Registrar office also clarified that the original proposal of starting IITRA was initiated on the recommendation of IIT Council in its meeting held on January 21, 2011. later, on the advice of HRD Ministry, the proposal was amended to IITRA “International Institute of Technology Research Academy, Mauritius”.
Giving a chronological sequence of events in connection with setting up of IITRA, the note further said the final MoU was okayed by the HRD Ministry and it was signed in the presence of the then HRD Minister (MM Pallam Raju) and the top functionaries of the Ministry and Indian High Commission on November 19, 2013 in Mauritius.
As per the MoU, Senate approval and the approval of the Steering Committee of IITRA, IIT-Delhi will admit students for IITRA as per norms of IIT-Delhi and award all degrees on successful completion of academic programs (research only) by all students registered at IIT-Delhi till year 2018. The maximum number of students is limited to 50.
The Ministry on its part constituted a committee headed by Secretary (Higher Education) to look into the aspects and minute details of the MoU between both the sides. Sources in the Ministry said that in August 2004 the HRD Ministry led by late Arjun Singh had issued orders that for every MoU the institutes do not need to knock the doors of the Ministry and they can go on their own.
The IIT-Delhi Alumni Association adopted a resolution in support of Shevgaonkar asking him to continue in the post even as it cautioned the Ministry against interfering in the autonomy of the IIT system to enable it to function “smoothly”.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too joined issue accusing HRD Minister Smriti Irani of “humiliating” Shevgaonkar and alleging that the Government was “misleading” the country over the issue.
“AAP challenges the HRD Minister to answer whether it is not a fact that she had recently summoned the IIT-Delhi director and impolite language was used against such a senior professor and later humiliated in that meeting,” the party asked in a statement.