IIT Council faces power loss
By Neha Singvi

Even today, many of the best and brightest Indian students compete for a coveted place at IIT.  While in the past, an IIT education almost guaranteed a successful mainstream career, today IIT graduates like Chetan Bhagat have won fame and fortune in alternative careers like writing.  India’s new HR Minister Kapil Sibal is hell bent on fine tuning the IITs.

After Kapil Sibal took over as the Union Human Resource Development Minister, he made it clear he would be spearheading radical changes in the entire Indian educational system.

And soon there was a clash between the Minister and the men who runs the IIT system. Minister Sibal introduced a revised pay structure which created great angst among the IIT dons.  Some even went on a token ‘hunger strike’ to protest against the Government’s diktat.  Soon, there was a compromise on this issue. 

Both the Minister as well as the IIT management justify their different positions as ‘protecting the level of excellence of IITs’.  And in the best interests of the Indian students.  Minister Sibal has also been saying he wants to give greater autonomy to the IITs.

But it seems that the central government plans to strip the IITs’ apex decision-making body of its powers to select institute directors.

The proposed amendment to the IIT Act runs counter to government claims of providing greater autonomy to the institutes, because appointments — the domain of the IIT Council — will now be handled by the Centre itself.

The move is controversial because the Madras high court had last December stalled the reappointment of IIT Madras director M.S. Ananth for a second term on the ground that the IIT Council had not approved the appointment.

Notably, the human resource development (HRD) ministry has not approached the council for the appointment of any IIT director over the last five years. Former HRD minister Arjun Singh had used his position as chairman of the IIT Council to pick the body’s nominees without even informing the other council members.

This had cast a shadow over the appointments of all IIT directors, which the government tried to rectify by hurriedly calling a council meeting where these appointments were approved post facto.

Section 17 of the IIT Act, 1961, says: “The director of each institute shall be appointed by the council with the prior approval of the Visitor (the President of India).”

The proposed amendment to the section will delete the role of the council and will read: “The director of each institute shall be appointed with the prior approval of the Visitor (the President of India).”

The HRD ministry argues the amendment was proposed because it is unrealistic to call frequent meetings of the council to approve selections. But the move and this argument contradict new HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s stated desire to increase the autonomy of the IIT system.

At present, the HRD ministry appoints a search-cum-selection committee each time the post of a director falls vacant. This committee shortlists candidates, interviews them and indicates its nominee. Under current law, this nominee must be approved by the President and the IIT Council to become director.

To try and end allegations that the search process can be doctored by the government — as it appoints the selection team — Sibal has proposed creating a collegium of experts.

The collegium will search out candidates and recommend names to the government.

However, through the proposed amendments to the IIT Act, the ministry will effectively take on powers that under the present law rest with the council — the authority to accept or reject any collegium proposal.