Three days after resigning as IIT-Delhi director, R Shevgaonkar met president Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday. While the ministry is on a backfoot and has yet to accept Shevgaonkar's resignation, the Faculty Forum of IIT has come up with a resolution requesting Shevgaonkar to take back his resignation. The forum has criticised the ministry for interfering in the functioning of the IIT. The support that Shevgaonkar has gathered from the board, faculty and alumni has forced the ministry to soften its stand on the director. "An inquiry is on and his resignation is yet to be accepted," said an official at the ministry.
Shevgaonkar had resigned on Friday citing personal reasons. However, the controversy over his resignation suggested that he was under pressure from the ministry for the MoU that the IIT Delhi has signed with Mauritius to set up a campus there. IIT Delhi has set up International Institute of Technology Research Academy (IITRA) with Mauritius Research Council.
Unlike the controversy over Sanskrit vs German, this time the ministry has not made any statement for its Mauritian counterpart and is treating the subject as an internal matter.
During his meeting with president Mukherjee, who is also the visitor of IITs, Shevgaonkar apprised him of the issue.
Meanwhile, IIT Delhi faculty members in a resolution passed on Tuesday held a unanimous view that interference in the operational autonomy of IIT Delhi could be the beginning of the end to excellence that the institute has achieved so far. "For any academician, including all faculty of IIT Delhi and especially Prof Shevgaonkar, dignity and integrity are the sole assets of our lives. Thus, direct or indirect communication affecting these parameters is bound to create unrest in an otherwise peaceful mind that truly loves research and teaching. We request the director, IIT Delhi to withdraw his resignation," reads the resolution.
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