IIT directors pitch in to solve pay structure issue

IIT directors today pitched in to resolve the stand-off between teachers and the government over pay issue by holding consultations with the faculty members in an effort to come up with a solution by October 15.

The directors of the IITs met here to discuss a way out of the impasse which prompted 1,500 professors to resort to the unprecedented step of hunger strike yesterday.

A decision was reached that each director will talk to the faculty member individually to discuss their grievances and find a solution to it, an IIT director said.

The directors will also speak to the board of governors of each IIT as part of efforts to evolve a solution before October 15.

The directors will request the HRD Ministry to convene a meeting of IIT Council, the highest decision making body for the IITs, to take a decision on the issue of more autonomy to the institutes, he said.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal also asked the agitating IIT faculty to come up with a roadmap for generating funds from outside and said government had no objection on private funding to the elite institutes.

"I am going to convene a meeting of the IIT people and other eminent persons. I will ask the IITs on their plan to get money. They should give us a roadmap for five years for generating resource, from private sector and other sector. If they achieve the goal, they will get more autonomy," he told reporters.