Protests continue to rock the National Institute of Technology Calicut (NIT-C) with faculty members as well as administrative staff condemning the decision of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) to give the Director of NIT Surathkal, additional charge of Director of NIT-C, instead of posting a full-time director at the institute.
A member of the non-teaching staff on Thursday said the staff would not hesitate to launch an agitation if there was further delay in posting a full-time director.
The faculty members and administrative staff have been urging the HRD Ministry to appoint a full-time director to put the institute's administrative matters in order.
The institute has been without a full-time director since October 2010. Meetings of the institute's Board of Governors are also not being held. Deans of various faculties are continuing in office beyond the stipulated term of two years because of the administrative impasse which is attributed to absence of a full-time director. More than 200 vacancies of teaching and non-staff have not been filled.
Sandeep Sancheti, Director NIT Surathkal, who has been given additional charge of the NIT-C, took up his new assignment on Wednesday.
But he left on Thursday to attend to his other duties. Besides being Director of NIT Surathkal, he also holds additional charge of Director of NITs at Goa and Sikkim.
He is also a key official on a few other important decision-making academic bodies.
The non-teaching staff, who had gone on hunger strike on July 19 demanding posting of full-fledged director, boycotted a meeting called by Sandeep Sancheti on Wednesday to express protest against the failure of the HRD Ministry to post a full time director.
The staff complain say they have been denied promotions and other benefits since the NIT-C's Board of Directors has not held its meetings for the past nine months. This is because the reconstitution of the Board of Governors has not been completed.
A senior member of the administrative staff said the appointment of Mr. Sancheti as the director would not solve problems at the institute since he would retire in three months.
Usually, no policy decisions are taken by directors in the three months prior to retirement. Mr.Sancheti is due to retire on November 18. So he is unlikely to take major decisions to solve the administrative problems at the NIT-C, a senior faculty member said.
There is widespread resentment at the delay in appointing a full-time director. After completing the recruitment process, full-time Directors have been appointed in the NITs, except at Calicut and Bhopal.
