IIT-J stand-off: 3-member team submits report to govt

The three-member team which was sent to IIT Jodhpur by Union HRD ministry to hold discussions with the agitating students who have been demanding removal of its director for his "dictatorial attitude" for past 12 days, today submitted its report to the government.
Before leaving here, the team head D R Mehta, who is also a member of the board of governors of the institute, assured the students and the faculties' members to table their grievances in the upcoming board meeting, scheduled to be held in the next two weeks.
The students have been agitating against a recently-passed code of conduct, which prevents them from speaking to media about the institute and "on controversial topics".

"We held discussions with the students and the faculties in these two days and prepared a detailed report, which we submitted to the HRD ministry today," Mehta said.
He, however, expressed disappointment over the "stand off of this kind in the institution of the status of IIT" and said that this has dented the reputation of the institution, which may have far-reaching impact in terms of placements and faculty inductions.
He, however, admitted that the rules of the IIT Jodhpur are stricter in comparison with other IITs, which he considered as the prospective causes of termination of the faculties in recent past.

"I have advised to align these rules with those of other institutions besides putting up an effective grievance redressal mechanism here, so that the contentious issues could be resolved in time," he said.
On the other hand, appearing appeased after the first round of talks with the team sent on Friday, the students again changed their stand and have decided to continue their 12-day-long agitation demanding the ouster of Director C V R Murti, rolling back the termination order of a faculty and inquiry into all the past faculty terminations.
"We will continue with the agitation until our demands are met as we are suspicious of the intentions of the team," said the students.