: The Madras High Court on Friday ordered notice to the Chairman, Director, and Registrar of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Madras) on a contempt plea moved by W.B. Vasantha, a teaching faculty at the institution.
Ms. Vasantha has moved the contempt plea against IIT Madras for allegedly disobeying a High Court order that had directed the institution to consider her for the post of Assistant Professor with retrospective effect from July 27, 1995 and for the post of Professor from January 6, 1997.
A Division Bench of Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan ordered notices returnable by December 8 to Pawan Goenka, Chairman, Board of Governors, Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, and V.G. Bhooma, Registrar of IIT Madras.
The petitioner submitted that she was working in the institution from 1989 as a teaching faculty. In 1997, alleging discrimination on the part of IIT Madras and promoting ineligible candidates ahead of her, she approached the High Court.
A Single Bench of the court, on July 25, 2013, ordered a CBI probe into the issue. But subsequently, the probe was stayed by a Division Bench on an appeal moved by the institution.
Finally, on August 22, 2016, a Division Bench set aside the order for CBI probe with a direction to the IIT Madras to consider the petitioner for the post of Associate Professor with retrospective effect from July 27, 1995 and for the post of Professor from January 6, 1997 or from the relevant dates.
Alleging that IIT Madras is wilfully and deliberately disobeying the orders of the court, the petitioner wanted the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the institution.
The petitioner wanted to be considered for the post of Associate Professor and Professor at IIT-M
