Days after Shankar Mohan stepped down as director of the State-run K.R. Narayanan Institute of Visual Science and Arts, Shibu Abraham, finance officer of the institution, has been given temporary charge as director.
An official statement by the Higher Education Minister R. Bindu said the interim director was appointed to run the day-to-day administrative affairs of the institution. The new appointment comes close on the heels of the students at the institute calling off their protests following talks with the Minister.
Meanwhile, academic activities at the institute resumed partially on Tuesday with the institute management kickstarting the preparatory works for workshops by filmmakers. The regular classes, however, are expected to begin only by next week, sources said.
The institute has been facing an unprecedented crisis with eight of its employees tendering their resignations en masse in solidarity with the outgoing director, who is facing a flurry of charges, including caste discrimination.
Among those who followed Mr. Mohan are the dean and administrative officer of the institution.
With their resignations, the authorities have been forced to run the institute with a much less number of staff. The cinematography department, for instance, has lost both its faculty members following the resignation spree.
Meanwhile, speculations are also rife about the resignation of Adoor Gopalakrishnan as chairman of the institute. Mr.Gopalakrishnan had been firm on his support to Mr. Mohan throughout the strike by students, which lasted about 50 days.
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