Government examines legal strength of IITs stand

Government examines legal strength of IITs’ stand

The growing opinion against the common entrance test (CET) within the IITs, the government is weighing the legal strength of the position taken by the IIT Senates. So far, the HRD ministry has adopted a wait-and-watch policy even as senates of IIT Kanpur and Kharagpur rejected the government’s decision to participate in the CET.

Sources informed that according to the IIT Act the Senates are neither autonomous nor do they have unfettered rights in the matters of academic concerns of the Institute. “It is the IIT Council, rather than the senate, who is empowered to set the admission standards and other related academic matters,” a source pointed out.

The decision taken by the IIT-Kanpur will have to get the nod of its board of governors in keeping with the IIT Act. According to section 13 of the Act, the Board of Governors (BoG) has the right to review the acts made by the senate, by another clause modify and cancel ordinances.

While Section 15 of the IIT Act gives control and general regulation responsibility for maintenance of “standards of instruction, education and examination in the Institute” to the senate, sources said that the function of the Senate did not include ‘admission standards’, which is in the exclusive domain of the IIT Council.

Meanwhile, IIT Delhi Alumni Association and All India IIT Faculty Federation — the two organizations opposing the government’s move most vehemently— have sought a meeting with the Prime Minister to apprise him of the situation that has arisen out of the ministry’s announcement of new JEE on May 28.