Government appoints directors to three IITs, keeps 'disputed' names out of appointment

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday appointed three new directors to the Indian Institutes of Technology in Ropar, Bhuwaneshwar and Patna, leaving out two names that had led to a disagreement between HRD Minister Smriti Irani and nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar.

An order issued late evening said that the ministry appointed Pushpak Bhattacharya, a computer science professor of IIT Bombay, as the new director of IIT Patna. Sarit Kumar Das, professor of mechanical engineering at IIT Madras, will be the director of IIT Ropar and RV Rajakumar, an electronics professor from IIT Kharagpur, the new director of IIT Bhuwaneshwar.

The appointments were shrouded in controversy last month, when Kakodkar, chairman of IIT Bombay and member of selection panel, quit ahead of the crucial meeting of the search-cum-selection committee on March 22 to interview candidates. The selection panel, in its first meeting, had shortlisted Das and Bhattacharya to head IIT Bhubaneswar and IIT Patna, respectively, but differences cropped up over the choice for IIT Ropar. Professor Manoj Datta of IIT-Delhi was chosen for IIT Ropar by the selection committee but this was shot down by Irani, who reportedly preferred professor Rajiv Shekhar of IIT-Kanpur.

In the absence of a consensus for IIT Ropar, the ministry decided to call all the shortlisted nominees for another round of interviews which led to Kakodkar’s resignation. Although, he was persuaded by the minister to withdraw his resignation, the IIT Bombay Chairman skipped the second meeting of the search-cum-selection committee on March 22, during which Irani and other members finally agreed to leave out Datta and Shekhar from the shortlist. Two other members of the search committee – MS Ananth, former director of IITMadras and Lila Poonawalla, chairperson of IIT-Ropar – also did not attend this meeting.

According to a source, Das, who was first chosen for IIT Bhuwaneshwar, was finally recommended for Ropar and Rajakumar for Bhuwaneshwar. All three suggestions were accepted and approved by the President, who happens to be the Visitor and appointing authority for all IITs. "Sarit Kumar Das had initially applied only for the post of director at IIT Ropar but at the second meeting he said that he was open to heading any of the three institutions, which is why he was then selected for IIT Bhuwaneshwar," said a ministry source.