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HomeIndiaGovt starts search for 6 newest IITs’ directors early, after delays in...

Govt starts search for 6 newest IITs’ directors early, after delays in recent appointments

Ministry of Education released an advertisement Monday inviting applicants for the IITs in Dharwad, Goa, Palakkad, Jammu, Bhilai and Tirupati.

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New Delhi: The Ministry of Education (MoE) has begun the search for new directors for its six newest Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) — at Dharwad, Goa, Palakkad, Jammu, Bhilai and Tirupati. All these institutes were established between 2015 and 2016. 

The MoE released an advertisement Monday inviting candidates, with five to eight months left in the current directors’ terms. Usually, the ministry releases an advertisement three-four months before a director is about to relinquish the post.

Sources said the search has started early because of recent delays in IIT director appointments. For IIT Jammu, the search has begun eight months before the current director’s term ends, while for Bhilai, Goa and Dharwad, the period is five months.

IIT Jammu director Manoj Singh Gaur joined the institute in June 2017 and his term will come to an end in June 2022. IIT Goa director BK Mishra, IIT Bhilai director Rajat Moona and IIT Dharwad director Seshu P. joined their respective institutes in March 2017 and will relinquish office in March 2022. The earliest to leave will be IIT Tirupati director K.N. Satyanarayana and IIT Palakkad director P.B. Sunil Kumar, who joined their respective institutes in January 2017 and will leave office in the next three months. 

ThePrint sent a detailed email to the ministry’s official spokesperson for a comment on the development, but there was no response till the time of publication of this report. 

Applications open till 6 December

The MoE advertisement released 18 October stated that an applicant for these posts should be a Ph.D. with first class or equivalent at the preceding degree, preferably in a branch of engineering. 

“In exceptional cases, candidates with science, mathematics or management degrees may be considered. He/She should have an outstanding academic record throughout and a minimum of 10 years teaching experience as a professor in a reputed engineering or technology institute or university and should have guided Ph.D. students,” the advertisement read. 

An applicant should preferably be less than 60 years of age on the last date of receipt of the applications, which is 6 December 2021. The applications will then be scrutinised by a panel.

Three names for every institute will be sent to the office of the President of India, which will then give the final nod. 

‘Appointments are slow’

A source pointed out to ThePrint that IIT director appointments have been really slow in recent years.

“IIT Indore and Mandi do not have a full-time director for the last one year. The IIT Delhi director’s term ended in April 2021, but he is still serving on extension. Looking at all these cases, the government now wants to start the process in time,” the source said. 

Other recent cases of delayed appointments happened in IIT Patna and Bhubaneswar.

IIT Patna got a new director, T.N. Singh, in September this year after its previous full-time director, Pushpak Bhattacharya, had relinquished office in June 2020.

IIT Bhubaneswar has been waiting for a full-time Director since April 2020 when the incumbent director Prof. R.V. Rajakumar’s five-year tenure ended. The government had released an advertisement for the post way back in November 2019, but the appointment is still pending. 

In the case of IIT Indore and IIT Mandi, both of which are running without full-time directors, the MoE under previous minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ started the process in December 2020. According to sources, one round of the selection process had already been completed before the ministry scrapped it and began the process afresh. 

(Edited by Paramita Ghosh)


Also read: Take responsibility of self-prescribed books — education ministry issues guidelines to schools


 

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