Scam accused IIT Head?
By Neha Singhvi

India’s newest IIT may soon get a scam accused as its director.

Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has picked an academic accused by the Uttar Pradesh government in a 2007 state medical examination scam as director of its engineering wing.

BHU’s Institute of Technology will be converted to an IIT soon. The Centre has promised that IT-BHU will be India’s next IIT and the upgrade could happen this year.

The BHU executive council has chosen K.P. Singh, sacked as vice-chancellor of Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University in 2007, to head the new IIT, triggering allegations of impropriety.

K.P. Singh, picked in late December, will take over when current IT-BHU director S.N. Upadhyay’s term ends on January 31, varsity officials confirmed.

Singh refused to comment to the local media except to say that the charges levelled against him were baseless.

The taint associated with Singh could hurt the institute and its reputation during this crucial transition phase, critics say.

Many faculty members and students accuse the university administration of picking Singh on caste considerations, ignoring seniority and tarnishing IT-BHU’s reputation.

A 62-year-old electrical engineer, K.P. Singh was sacked as vice-chancellor of the Uttar Pradesh government’s VBS Purvanchal University in 2007 after a scam broke out over that year’s state pre-medical exam, conducted under him.

A nine-member inquiry team had held him guilty of large-scale bungling that led to thousands of deserving candidates initially being denied selection because of marking and assessment errors. A few of the affected students committed suicide.

After K.P. Singh was sacked, the Uttar Pradesh government led by chief minister Mayawati lodged an FIR against him.

BHU vice-chancellor D.P. Singh claimed that Allahabad High Court had dismissed the FIR.

But a senior state official said the claim was “blatantly false”. The official said the court had “merely stayed disciplinary proceedings against him for the duration of the case, which it is hearing”. The state government is still pursing the case and is convinced of K.P. Singh’s guilt, the official added.