IIT Kharagpur professors stage a silent protest inside the campus with non-political banners asking for the show cause notices to be revoked.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A section of faculty members at IIT Kharagpur are at a loggerhead with the institute administration over the show cause notice to 86 teachers. The rift began when the IIT Teachers’ Association (IITTA) filed a complaint with the Union Education Ministry citing arbitrary recruitment, favouritism, and irregularities at the institute.
According to sources in IIT Kharagpur, the issues begun in September when the professors complained about “unprecedented nepotism, arbitrary faculty recruitment, failure in starting the multi-speciality hospital, and unlawful recovery of payment from faculty”.
Four office bearers of the IITTA were sent show cause notices after filing the complaint and were asked to justify their claims. Notices were sent to president, vice president, general secretary and treasurer of the IITTA and gave them only seven days to respond.
The show cause notice issued by the Registrar of IIT Kharagpur read, “Failure to provide a satisfactory explanation or response within the stipulated time may lead to… disciplinary action.”
The situation became more tense when 86 other professors from various departments joined the cause and filed another mass petition to the institute. The institute sent show cause notices to these 86 professors as well which further snowballed the issue.
Three department heads from Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence and Bioscience, and Biotechnology departments were also replaced on Wednesday.
According to an anonymous source from the institute who spoke to The Hindu said, “The HOD of AI was the founding head of the department. He was loved and celebrated on the campus. What is happening is discrimination, the authorities are destroying the good name of the institute.”
In a list of grievances shared by the professors at the institute, one of them mentioned, “Unprecedented nepotism during the last five years, affecting selection of key administrative positions like Dean, Head of Departments and chairmen of various committees, have been done whimsically flouting all rules and statues of the institute.”
Protests and support
From Wednesday to Friday, the professors of IIT Kharagpur held silent marches and sit-on assemblies inside the institute with non-political banners and posters in their hands. Some of the posters read ‘Say no to nepotism’, ‘Restore academic environment’, ‘Withdraw show cause notices’, ‘Long live faculty unity’, and more.
Workers, other staff, and students also joined them in support of the cause. According to the sources, the authorities at IIT Kharagpur have said that as of December 7 evening the institute administration has agreed to not take further action on the 86 show cause notices sent to professors after much pressure from various stakeholders. But no update has been shared about the first four show cause notices that were sent to the office bearers at the start of the movement.
Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA), from Kolkata sent an official notice condemning the action of the IIT Kharagpur administration. In the letter they wrote, “JUTA strongly believes that such autocratic decisions of the administration of an academic institute not only hampers the democratic environment of the organisation, but also creates disturbances in the academic environment of the institute and hinders its academic progress.”
Visva Bharati University Faculty Association from Shantiniketan, West Bengal also penned a letter in support of the IIT Kharagpur professors and supported their cause.
In view of the protests, the IIT administration retracted the show cause notices. In a signed letter from IIT Kharagpur, the administration stated, “You are hereby advised to refrain from any activity which is violative of the Statue and Service Rules of the Institute or such other similar acts as may be construed as violative…”
Published – December 07, 2024 09:44 pm IST
