No attempt to disrupt functioning allowed, says IIT KGP after show causing teachers

KOLKATA: Days after issuing show-cause notices to 85 teachers on disciplinary grounds, IIT Kharagpur on Thursday said that attempts to disrupt normal academic activities by "a few people" will not be tolerated. The institute authorities had on November 12 sent show cause notices to four office bearers of IIT Teachers’ Association after they wrote to the Union education ministry on September 20 alleging nepotism and arbitrary recruitment of faculty members in recent times.

On November 14, the show-caused teachers wrote to the registrar Amit Jain seeking an extension of the deadline for their response, while on November 21, the IIT Kharagpur authorities initiated “disciplinary proceedings” against the four for not responding to the show cause notice. Subsequently, 85 teachers in a mass representation to the registrar on November 28 said the faculty members demand that show cause notices issued against the four office-bearers of the teachers’ association be withdrawn immediately and the disciplinary proceedings be stopped.

Show cause notices to 85 teachers

The authorities subsequently show-caused 85 teachers early this month asking to explain the reason behind “being a signatory” to the mass representation thus “violating the code of conduct”. In a statement, the institute said it "stands firm on its ground nullifying all the allegations. Among the over 800 faculty members, the intent of action of these 85 signatories is questioned in mobilising a mass representation to threaten the administration, propagating a collective hateful purpose and disrupting the normal academic workflow of the institution without a definitive agenda."

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Deadline for evidence submission

"Apart from a few, most of the signatories are unaware of the motive of the agenda and are therefore withdrawing their stance. They are just mobilising the media without any concrete evidence," it said. The statement said the office bearers were asked to provide data in support of their allegation against the administration and were granted an extended deadline of December 13 to back up their allegations. The IIT Kharagpur director advised them not to malign the reputation of the Institute of Eminence. The 85 teachers were also asked why action would not be taken against them as, according to the rules of the institute, “No employee shall be signatory to any joint representation addressed to the authorities for redress of any grievances or of any other matter.”

One of the 85 teachers, meanwhile, sent a letter to the Registrar on December 2 disassociating with any future activities of IITTA, claiming that his signature had been obtained on a blank sheet.

Support from Visva-Bharati University

Meanwhile, Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association (VBUFA) voicing support for the show-caused professors of IIT Kharagpur. "This brazen assault on the democratic norms – the right to dissent and protest – is unprecedented in Indian academia and vitiates the academic environment," Manas Maity, President of the teachers' faculty of Visva-Bharati, another central higher education institute, said in a statement.