Director of Kerala’s KR Narayanan film institute quits weeks after allegations of caste discrimination emerge

The office of the higher education minister said Mohan, a former director of the International Film Festival of India, submitted the resignation even as the government was expected to take a final decision on the committee report.

Students at the institute had been on a warpath since December 5 demanding his ouster. Subsequently, the Kottayam district administration ordered closure of the institute till further orders. The government also appointed a panel to look into the allegations.

Reacting to the decision, Mohan said, “I have already completed my three-year term as the institute director and was ready to quit any time. I am fully satisfied as a director. Certain vested interest groups were behind the allegation of caste discrimination. I have sought a detailed probe into the conspiracy behind the agitation,” he said.

Students of the institute, named after the first Dalit President of India K R Narayanan, have been protesting demanding the ouster of Mohan. Under the banner of the Institute Students Council, they had alleged that Mohan had undermined the reservation norms for admission in the current academic year and had shown discrimination towards the staff on the basis of caste. Along with the students, a section of cleaning staff at the institute had also joined the agitation seeking the removal of Mohan, who had once served as the director of Kolkata-based Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.

The students’ council had alleged that the institute had denied admission to students in the reservation category. They said the director resorted to a certain approach to keep away backward communities from the institute. He had also allegedly shown laxity in ensuring government financial assistance to Dalit students. A section of cleaning staff said they were forced to work at his home in an insulting manner and faced casteist slurs from his family.

Mohan refuted the allegations. “I am sure that the probe panel would not find fault with me over the caste discrimination. My conscience is clear. I am the first director to complete three years in office. I have brought discipline to the institute and cleansed the system. Financially, morally and ethically, they cannot touch me. Hence, they have raised the allegation against my wife through the cleaning staff. I would not blame even the cleaning staff, but they are being used by certain vested forces,” he said.

He said there is stiff resistance against the process to put the institute on track and bring in overall discipline. “I had taken action against the drug and liquor racket at the institute. I have done the job of a director, which any person is supposed to do. There was not even an attendance system at the institute, but I made it mandatory and recently introduced a biometric attendance system which had irked certain quarters,” he said.

He said the state government’s LBS Centre for Science and Technology has been processing admissions to the institute over the years. “We have been following reservation norms as per the Constitution. It was LBS which completed the admission process,” he said.

Recently, institute chairman Adoor Gopalakrishnan had backed Mohan on the reservation controversy at the institute. “The allegations against the director are baseless. We haven’t changed the reservation norms. We had reduced the cut off marks to 45 for SC/ST students, but there was none. The LBS did not give any clear direction on this,” he said.