The silence of IIT Delhi Director Raghunath K Shevgaonkar about the reason behind his abrupt resignation has triggered a major controversy even as the HRD Ministry, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy have refuted any role in the matter.
While a media report suggested that Shevgaonkar resigned as he was under immense pressure to sanction a portion of IIT land for a cricket academy to be set up by Sachin Tendulkar and also over some pending arrear claims of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, the HRD Ministry has denied having anything to do with the two issues.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani is learnt to have called a meeting on Sunday to discuss Shevgaonkar’s resignation after which the Ministry issued a statement to the media over the issue. “I have resigned, that’s it,” was all that Shevgaonkar said when he was confronted by media.
But Swamy added a new twist to the controversy by pointing at Shevgaonkar’s alleged role setting up an off-shore IIT campus in Mauritius without due clearances from any Government authority. Sources said the HRD Ministry had taken cognisance of a complaint against him for starting the off-campus branch of the institution.
The HRD Ministry in its clarification said that the media reports about the reasons behind Shevgaonkar’s resignation are factually “inaccurate” and “incorrect.”
“There is neither any request from Sachin Tendulkar for the ground of IIT for running a Cricket Academy nor any instruction from Ministry of HRD to provide the same,” it said in the brief Press Note.
The Ministry said that IIT Delhi Board of Governor’s Chairman Dr Vijay P Bhatkar has forwarded IIT Delhi Director Raghunath K Shevgaonkar’s resignation letter on Friday (December 26) evening to IIT Appointing Authority’s since his resignations can only be processed by it and then forwarded to the President of India for his approval as the Visitor of IIT-Delhi.
Clarifying its stand on the controversy arising about pressure on the Director for clearing Swamy’s arrears when he served in the IIT, the Ministry said that it has neither forwarded Swamy’s request to IIT-Delhi nor given any direction to make payment of arrears to him. Instead views of DoPT and Finance Ministry have been sought in the matter, the Ministry said.
Both Swamy and Tendulkar denied any involvement in the resignation of Shevgaonkar. “I am appalled to read the stories that suggest some land has been asked from IIT-D for academy in my name. I have neither even planned any academy nor do I want any piece of land for any purpose,” Tendulkar tweeted.
Swamy alleged that the director’s resignation was a “cheap trick” to protect himself from disciplinary action over IIT Delhi’s campus in Mauritius. IIT-Delhi had decided to set up a campus in Mauritius in 2013 under the UPA regime but there was a complaint that it was in violation of rules.
“The Ministry has recently sent the director a notice about his activities in Mauritius where he has set up an institute without keeping the authorities in loop. The post of the IIT director is a Government authority and the conduct rules require that anything related to the foreign Government to be done through the Ministry of External Affairs and he violated that. It means that he would be subject to disciplinary proceedings. As far as I am concerned he has nothing to do with me since my matter is between the Government, the court and me. This is just to cover up what he did in Mauritius,” said Swamy.
Sources said that IIT recently sought the advice of DoPT on whether Swamy’s case came under the Government’s general financial rules and service rules (FR and SR) and if he could be granted ‘extraordinary leave’ between 1972 and 1991. But the Government’s FR and SR are applicable due to IIT Council’s 1964 resolution, which says “whenever no rules had been framed by an institute to deal with a particular matter, the Government of India Rules would become applicable”.
Swamy is fighting a legal battle for Rs 70 lakh “salary dues” between 1972 and 1981 when he served the institute as a faculty member. IIT-Delhi, however, has maintained that Swamy has not provided it with information like the details of his earnings from the time of his termination of his service as a professor in 1972 to March 1991, when he was reinstated following the court order. Swamy was allegedly terminated from service in 1972 after he wrote an article questioning the then Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi’s understanding of Indian economy.
Swamy had been demanding his salary dues with an 18 per cent interest. After IIT and HRD Ministry initially rejected Swamy’s claim, he approached the Delhi High court which dismissed IIT’s plea that Swamy’s petition should not be entertained.
But now with the BJP-led government at the Centre, the HRD Ministry has apparently changed its earlier stand and sought the advice of DoPT on whether Swamy’s case came under the Government’s general financial rules and service rules and if he could be granted ‘extraordinary leave’ between 1972 and 1991.
Reacting to the controversy, Former Delhi IIT Alumni president Somnath Bharti said that in recent times there has been a lot of unjustified political interference affecting the autonomy of the top institutions for professional and technical education. “Even the UPA Government did it and now the BJP-led NDA Government. The HRD Ministry had no right to interfere in the functioning of this autonomous institution and the matter should have been referred to its board of governors. The ministry in particular, appears to have made it a habit to create a controversy on a weekly basis,” Bharti, former Delhi law Minister told The Pioneer indicating that his statements should be read without any political prejudices and purely in the inertest of centre of excellence.