Probe against NIT Warangal head

For the first time in the history of the National Institutes of Technology (NITs),the Board of Governors (BoG) of NIT Warangal on Friday instituted an inquiry....

For the first time in the history of the National Institutes of Technology (NITs),the Board of Governors (BoG) of NIT Warangal on Friday instituted an inquiry into the charges of irregularity against its director Prof Y Venkateshwara Rao. The campus has been gripped by agitations over the past couple of days with the students seeking Prof Raos resignation and the director countering with a criminal case against the protesters.

We have appointed a committee to inquire into the charges against Rao. There are a series of serious charges against him ranging from discrepancies in admissions to inadequate constructions on the campus and harassment of staff. He is expected to go on leave at once, said NIT Board of Governors chairperson Deekshitulu after a meeting of the BoG at the Union Human Resource Development Ministry here on Friday night. Rao,who is also chairman of AICTE South Central Region,was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile,as many as six MPs from Andhra Pradesh,led by Porika Balram Naik,accompanied by NIT student council members submitted a memorandum to the HRD Minister demanding Raos suspension. One of the primary charges against Rao,who took over as director in November 2005,is that NIT Warangal unilaterally implemented 54 per cent OBC quota in a single phase in the academic session starting July 2008 instead of staggering the quota as mandated by the ministry for all central educational institutes. This,it is alleged,was done without proper assessment of available infrastructure and as result as many as 75 students were packed into a single class for B.Tech first year and 110 students in B.Tech second year in contravention of AICTE and NIT standards.

It is also alleged that Rao paid scant attention to the infrastructure and facilities at the institute and cut down funding for research and laboratory works. The student council claims Raos tenure was the least bothered about the poor drinking water availability and food quality on the campus,lack of ladies toilets and proper healthcare services. It is also alleged that while the HRD Ministry has granted a contingency fund of Rs 30,000 for each research scholar,the same was not disbursed to most students. Instead,research scholars of Basic Sciences were not permitted to continue their research beyond three years .