Govt to amend Institutes of Technology Act, 1961, for new IITs

The government will table an amendment to the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961, in the coming session of Parliament to make the new IITs eligible to award degrees to students.     

The new IITs, started this year, are operating as societies at present. To be an institute with power to award degrees, the names of the new IITs have to be incorporated into the existing Act.     

"A draft of the Institute of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2008, is ready. It will be tabled in Parliament in the coming session," a senior official in HRD Ministry told PTI.     

Six new IITs have been started in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat from this year. Academic activities in these institutes are either run by mentor IITs or in temporary campuses.     

"They have been started as societies. If the Act is not amended and their names are not incorporated into the Act, they cannot award degrees. A society cannot award degrees to students," the official said.     
The Act was earlier amended in 1994 when IIT Guwahati came into existence.     

Of the seven existing IITs, the ones at Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur, Guwahati and Chennai had come up as registered societies.