IIT-Kharagpur faculty and alumni to go on hunger strike

Will protest against inordinate delay in confirming Professor Partha Pratim Chakrabarti's appointment as the next director

Faculty members and alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-Kgp) will go on a hunger strike on July 17 to protest against the inordinate delay in confirming Professor Partha Pratim Chakrabarti's appointment as the next director.

A resolution calling for a hunger strike on July 17, was passed during a general body meeting of the IIT Teachers Association held last Thursday.

Alumni of the institute would be organising simultaneous protests in Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata on July 20, at India Gate, Freedom Park and Park Street respectively. The alumni movement is being chaired by Arjun Malhotra, a distinguished IIT-Kgp alumnus and the co-founder of HCL and Headstrong Inc.

In July 2012, the Ministry of Human Resource Development had constituted a search-cum-selection committee which had selected Chakrabarti to be IIT-Kgp's director. But the appointment has been pending Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) clearance due to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case in which Chakrabarti was named for irregularities as dean of sponsored research and industrial consultancy.

The CBI report of 2007 is regarding Phase 1 of the "CoalNet Application Software" project sanctioned by Coal India Ltd to IIT-Kgp.

The project sanctioned in 2001 with a grant of Rs 8.9 crore, involved development of digital framework to facilitate the flow of information between the Ministry of Coal, Coal India limited and its various subsidiaries.

It however, missed several deadlines with the cost of development increasing.

The CVC learnt of some irregularities - allegations of outsourcing the work to a software firm and inadequate business study leading to unnecessary expenditure --- in the programme and suggested penal action against three of IIT-Kgp's professors -- A K Bhowmick, R N Banerjee and Chakrabarti. The CVC recommended minor penalties for Chakrabarti.

While Bhowmick has become the director of IIT-Patna, Chakarbarti was cleared to take the post of Director at IIT-Kgp. Banerjee has retired and is working at the institute on an extension.

IIT-Kgp is functioning without a director since July 1 last year.

"IIT-Kgp's Board of Governors had cleared Chakrabarti, once in March 2012 and again in March 2013, of any wrongdoing. The CVC is still holding on to the clearance even though its rules specify cases must be resolved within two months of filing a defence statement," IIT-Kgp said in a statement.