New Delhi: The ongoing conflict between the faculty and administration of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has intensified, with the institute replacing three department heads in its latest move.
A conflict between the IIT Kharagpur administration and the IIT Kharagpur Teachers’ Association (IITTA) started in September this year when the association sent a letter to the Union education ministry, accusing director V.K. Tiwari of “nepotism” and “arbitrary faculty recruitment”, among other things. The ministry was urged to pick someone with a “high academic report as well as experience in practising inclusive governance” as his successor.
Tensions escalated when the administration, in retaliation, issued show-cause notices to IITTA office bearers—the president, general secretary, vice president and treasurer—and initiated disciplinary action against them after they did not respond within seven days.
The faculty members then signed a petition calling for the withdrawal of the disciplinary action against the IITTA office bearers. Not backing down, the administration issued show-cause notices to the 86 faculty members who signed the mass representation, ThePrint reported Tuesday.
According to the IITTA, the department heads replaced were among the 86 faculty members issued the show-cause on 29 November.
The faculty members, who even on Wednesday staged a silent protest demanding the revocation of the disciplinary action against the IITTA office bearers, have now vowed to escalate their movement. They plan to take the protest to the streets on Thursday and soon seek legal action against the administration.
In a statement issued Thursday, the IITTA said the administration, without providing any reason, replaced the three department heads and made new appointments.
“This is yet another vindictive and shameful action by the administration—aimed at weakening our solidarity. To demonstrate our strong unity, our members should refuse to accept these headship positions and urge the authorities not to remove any head or dean at this time,” read the IITTA statement.
The three replaced department heads include Adrijit Goswami from the mathematics department, Niloy Ganguly from the Artificial Intelligence department, and Nihar Ranjan Jana from the biotechnology and biosciences department.
“The tenure for heads of departments at IIT Kharagpur is three years, and none of the current heads have completed their term. The sole reason for their removal is that they signed a representation supporting the office bearers of the teachers’ association,” a senior faculty member told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity.
On the other hand, a senior official in the institute said Thursday, “As per rules and regulations, an individual cannot be a member of any internal association once he assumes an administrative role for the institute—which is in conflict of interest.”
A statement issued Tuesday confirmed the administration was standing its ground. “Apart from a few, most of the signatories are unaware of the motive of the agenda and are therefore withdrawing their stance. They are just mobilising the media, without concrete evidence,” it read.
According to the statement, the office-bearers had been asked to provide substantiating data/documentation to support their allegations. No replies have yet been received.
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Teachers exploring legal action
According to the IITTA statement, just half an hour before a silent march on Wednesday, registrar Capt. Amit Jain (retd.), sent an email to all faculty members, citing the rules of punishment for anyone who joins the march.
“The registrar intentionally issued these threats, knowing that faculty members, whether part of the association or not, have the democratic right to peacefully protest. Therefore, we request everyone to participate in today’s (Thursday’s) silent protest from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm, following the same route and venue as yesterday’s march,” it read.
“We will continue our protest until the authorities withdraw the show-cause notices issued to the 86 members, including the general secretary and office bearers,” it added.
They also demanded an immediate halt to removing any head, dean, or chairman and instead reinstating them in their positions.
“All members are urged not to accept any position that could lead to the humiliation of any of our colleagues,” the association requested of their fellow faculty members.
“We, IITTA members, will continue our protest in different forms, including wearing of black badges, interactions with members of other departments, and silent march on the street. We have to strengthen our protest because of the following additional activity of the authority,” its statement added.
Faculty members told ThePrint they are also exploring legal options, such as seeking a stay on the removals of the department heads who the administration has replaced.
“We are discussing the matter with lawyers, and soon, action will be taken,” said a senior faculty member.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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