Kottayam (Kerala), Jan 21 (PTI) The director of the Kerala government-run K R Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts, Shankar Mohan, has resigned from his post, weeks after a section of students and staff alleged caste discrimination among other complaints against him.
The institute had been embroiled in controversy for some time after a section of students levelled charges against Mohan.
He said he had given his resignation to the Chairman of the institute, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, three weeks ago as his tenure had ended.
“I had tendered my resignation to the Chairman three weeks ago when my three-year tenure came to an end. I have apprised him about the people behind the controversy. Some people working there, and other few persons known to him are behind this,” Mohan told a news channel on Saturday.
Mohan claimed allegations of caste discrimination were raised against him as he took a strong stand against the corruption in the organisation. “When I opposed the corrupt activities, some people raised certain issues against me,” he said.
The institute was shut down recently anticipating a law and order issue during the students’ protest against the director.
Considering the protest by the teachers and students against the director, the state government had appointed a two-member panel, comprising former Chief Secretary K Jayakumar and former Vice Chancellor of NUALS N K Jayakumar, to probe the matter.
The committee had recently submitted a report to the chief minister.
The committee had met the students and staff of the institute and collected the details with regard to the allegations which also include undermining of reservation norms in students’ admissions.
Earlier, a Higher Education Department committee had recommended changing the director and conducting an investigation into the allegations against him.
The issue came to the fore after some cleaning staff of the institute complained that the director’s wife used to make them clean the toilets of her residence.
The institute’s chairman Adoor Gopalakrishnan had come under severe criticism from a section of former students after he allegedly backed Mohan and made a “slacker” comment against one of the teachers who supported the students’ protest.
Gopalakrishnan, a Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner, was also widely criticised by a section of social media users for his stand on the issue.
This had prompted senior CPI(M) leader M A Baby to come out openly in support of Gopalakrishnan and said portraying the filmmaker as a casteist person was condemnable.
Baby had said Gopalakrishnan is a strong critic of the “Manuvad-semi-fascist government” of the country and a life-long secularist.
The CPI(M) leader had said the filmmaker should not be evaluated based on the answers he gave to provocative questions of the journalists. PTI RRT TGB HDA HDA
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