Pallam Raju hopes decision on IIT-Kharagpur director is expedited

Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju Thursday hoped that appointment of a full-time director at IIT-Kharagpur would be expedited as demanded by the protesting faculty and alumni of the premier institute.

"The CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) has the report on the director and they are taking time in deciding on that. So, we are hoping that they will be able to expedite it. We are working toward ensuring that normalcy is returned," Raju told reporters here.

The faculty members and alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) participated in a hunger strike Wednesday to press for the appointment of a full-time director at the institute.

Members of the IIT-KGP Teachers Association alleged that the appointment of Partha Pratim Chakrabarti for the post of director has been stalled for over an year due to a delay by the CVC in clearing his name.

Chakrabarti has been accused of handing over a Coal India project that was meant for IIT-KGP to an outside agency. CVC is investigating the issue.