IIT stand-off: HRD revises rules for professors post

Yielding just a little more to the protesting IIT faculty over and above the recently promised Performance Related Incentive Scheme...

Yielding just a little more to the protesting IIT faculty over and above the recently promised Performance Related Incentive Scheme PRIS,the Human Resource Development HRD Ministry has come out with a third revision to its pay notification order,enlarging the scope of the experience and eligibility required for a professors post at IIT. The notification came a day before the faculty members were scheduled to go on a day-long fast in protest against the notified pay order.

The ministry has now said that the 10-year experience required for the professors job would include four years of experience at associate professor-level not only in IITs,IIMs,IISc Bangalore and NITIE Mumbai,but also in any Indian or foreign institute of comparable standards.

The previous notification of the ministry had omitted the mention of foreign institutes,sparking protest among the IIT faculty,which said this amounted to denying a professors post to someone who may have taught abroad in prestigious institutes.

The experience prescribed for the post of professors a minimum of 10 years experience may be read as a minimum of 10 years experience of which at least four years should be at the level of associate professor in IITs,IISc Bangalore,IIMs,NITIE Mumbai and IISERs or at an equivalent level in any such other Indian or foreign institutions of comparable standards as may be so decided by the Institute, the ministry has said in its revised notification issued to directors of all Centrally funded institutes.

The IIT faculty,which on Wednesday submitted a memorandum of its demands to the HRD Ministry,has raised this issue as one of its demands.

We do not accept the ministry imposing restrictive norms in any selection policies. Specifying things such as one should be associate professor for at least four years within IITs,etc. to be considered for the post of professor is absolutely unacceptable, the All India IIT Faculty Federation has said in its memorandum.

While the HRD Ministrys first notification issued in mid-August this year just mentioned 10 years experience for a professors job,the second and revised notification issued just last week said that a minimum of 10 years experience may be read as a minimum of 10 years experience of which at least four years should be at the level of associate professor in IITs,IlSc Bangalore,IIMs,NITIE Mumbai and IISERs.

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With no recognition to those who may have spent a part of their teaching career in foreign universities,the IIT faculty also protested against this omission,prompting the third notification that went out to IIT directors.