FTII row: Govt may step back, Rajkumar Hirani could replace Gajendra Chauhan as academic council head: reports

In a major climbdown, the Centre has agreed to keep FTII Chairman Gajendra Chauhan away from the institute's academic affairs in order to put an end to the strike by the students.

It is being speculated that well known filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will be replacing him as the head of council. That will be give Hirani to power to make decisions on academics and the ongoing revision of syllabus, reports The Hindustan Times. 

Chauhan will continue as the chairperson of the institute’s governing council which is responsible for infrastructure and policy matters.

With no end in sight to the nearly three-month-old strike in FTII, the protesting students later today threatened go on hunger strike en masse if their main demand of removal of actor Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the premier institute was not met by the Centre.

In a set back to the students, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a PIL seeking its intervention to end the ongoing stir at the institute. 

Later in the day, Gajendra Chauhan on Monday met Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore amid row over his appointment as Pune-based institute?s chief here on Monday.