The Hindu : New Delhi News : Cabinet clears legal framework for new IITs

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Cabinet clears legal framework for new IITs

Anita Joshua

Nod for creation of 30 faculty posts a year for three years

Union Cabinet Approval to form societies to operationalise new IITs
Six IITs are due to start their academic session on July 23

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of societies to provide a legal framework to the eight Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) that are to come up during the 11th Plan.

Six of these IITs — one each in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Orissa — are due to start their academic session on July 23.

Though the proposal to set up the eight IITs had been cleared by the National Development Council, a formal Cabinet approval was needed to form societies to operationalise the institutes. Also, without the creation of such societies, government policies, including reservation, could not be applied to these institutions. The creation of separate societies for each of the new IITs will be followed by a draft legislation to bring the societies under the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961. Under the Act, certain institutes of technology are declared institutions of national importance.

Each of the new IITs will get Rs.760 crore over six years; taking the total bill to Rs.6,080 crore. Since the new IITs do not have their own campuses and are yet to recruit faculty, each is being mentored by one of the existing institutions.

Of the six new IITs, three — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat — will begin their B.Tech programmes on temporary campuses located near the place where their campuses are being planned. They will be mentored by the IIT-Madras, IIT-Guwahati and IIT-Bombay respectively. The upcoming IITs in Rajasthan, Punjab and Orissa will conduct their classes on the campuses of their mentor IITs — Kanpur, Delhi and Kharagpur respectively.

The Cabinet also approved the creation of 30 faculty posts per year in the first three years of establishment of each of the new IITs. With the grade of the new IIT Directors being set at Rs. 26,000 (fixed), the Cabinet gave its nod for raising the grade of existing IIT directors from Rs.25,000 (fixed) to bring all of them at par.

Eager to ensure that the IIT brand is not diluted by hasty appointments, the government has decided that the directors of the mentor IITs would work as directors of the mentored IITs assigned to each pending the selection process. The same would apply to the Chairman of the Board of Governors.

As for the IITs that are to come up in Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, the plan is for them to commence their sessions from the 2009-10 academic year.

The eight governments of States where the new IITs are to come up have identified 600 acres for setting up these institutions. While the Centre has cleared the locations suggested by Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, the Site Selection Committee is yet to inspect the sites mooted by the other State governments.

The Cabinet also gave in-principle approval for taking over the Institute of Technology in Banaras Hindu University and converting it into an IIT by integrating it into the IIT system.

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