Bill to declare 5 IIITs as institutions of national importance introduced in LS

A bill that seeks to declare five Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) in public-private partnership mode at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur as institutions of national importance along with existing 15 Indian Institutes of Information Technology was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced by Minister of State for Human Resource Development Sanjay Dhotre amid din in the House over opposition demand for an immediate debate on Delhi violence.

The bill intends to declare the remaining five IIITs along with the existing 15 Indian Institutes of Information Technology in Public-Private Partnership mode as 'Institutions of National Importance' with powers to award degrees.

It will entitle them to use the nomenclature of Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) or Master of Technology (M.Tech) or Ph.D. degree as issued by a university.

Officials said it will also enable the institutes to attract enough students required to develop a strong research base in the country in the field of information technology.

The bill seeks to amend principal Acts of 2014 and 2017 and also intends to grant statutory status to the five institutes.

These IIITs, at present, are functioning as Societies registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860.

They will now be covered under the IIIT (PPP) Act, 2017, similar to the other 15 IIITs established under the scheme in PPP mode.

IIITDM (IIIT Design and Manufacturing) Kurnool has been established as per the IIIT Act, 2014 and is functioning with the other 4 IIITs - IIIT Allahabad, IIITM Gwalior, IIITDM Jabalpur, and IIITDM Kancheepuram.

IIITs are envisaged to promote higher education and research in the field of Information Technology. A scheme for setting up 20 new IIITs in PPP mode was approved by the Union Cabinet in November 2010.