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Journalism of Courage
The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry on Wednesday suspended the Director of NIT,Warangal,Prof Y Venkateshwara Rao,on a slew of charges. An infamous first for any of the National Institutes of Technology considered second only to the IITs the suspension orders follow three inquiry reports on charges against Rao,submitted to the ministry.
The Indian Express had first reported in April this year how the Board of Governors (BoG) of NIT,Warangal,had instituted an inquiry against Rao following tense atmosphere at the campus of the Andhra Pradesh-based institute when thousands of students forced him to resign and Rao,in turn,slapped a criminal case on the students.
There are a series of charges against Rao ranging from discrepancies in admissions to inadequate civil work construction at the campus besides harassment of staff. Six MPs from Andhra Pradesh,led by Balram Naik,had supported the NITs student council members and submitted a memorandum to the HRD Minister demanding that Rao be suspended.
When contacted Rao said he had not yet received any communication from the ministry informing him of his suspension. I have,however,submitted my response to the inquiry committee reports on August 4. I have not yet received any formal communication from the ministry about the suspension, Rao said.
One of the primary charges against Rao is that NIT,Warangal,unilaterally implemented 54 per cent OBC quota in one single phase in the academic session starting July 2008,instead of staggering the quota as was mandated by the ministry for all Central educational institutes. The same,it is alleged,was done without proper assessment of available infrastructure ultimately affecting education quality. Against all AICTE norms and NIT standards,75 students were packed into a single class for B Tech first-year and 110 students in B Tech second-year.
It is alleged that Rao paid scant attention to the infrastructure and facilities at the institute,cutting down funding for research and laboratory works even as institute development fund was far higher at NIT,Warangal. Poor drinking water availability and wanting food quality,barely any ladies toilets,poor health care services marked Raos tenure,alleged the student council.
