The month-long face-off between the government and faculty members of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) over the issue of pay structure, hiring norms and autonomy ended today with the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal assuring the premier institutions that they could relax the guidelines in exceptional cases.
Sibal, however, reiterated that there was no proposal to increase the remuneration paid to IIT faculty members. The IIT faculty members had gone on a day-long hunger strike on September 24 to protest the HRD ministry guidelines, which they believed were unfair to them.
“The IITs can sort out any remaining issues during the meeting with their respective directors tomorrow and raise them before the council,” Sibal told reporters after the meeting with the IIT faculty representatives here today. He added that any issue which would increase the autonomy of the IITs would be supported by the government.
Seven IIT directors and 11 members of the All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF) will meet on Saturday to flesh out the details like the extent of flexibility, autonomy and guidelines for the performance-related incentive scheme (PRIS).
AIIITFF President M Thenmozhi confirmed: “The minister has assured us about the IITs retaining their flexibility and relaxing norms. We are happy that these norms can be decided by the board if necessary. But we will discuss with the directors tomorrow about the modalities of the implementation. We will take a final decision on our agitation after the meeting.”
Sibal, on his part, explained how the norms could be relaxed by the IITs. Assume, for instance, that if in a particular field, faculty members are not available to fit with the norm of having three years’ experience in research. Such a case, said Sibal, should not prevent IITs from tweaking the guidelines to fill in the position.
Sibal also clarified that an earlier norm, wherein at least 10 per cent of all faculty had to be on contract at any given time, was merely an advisory and IIT boards could modify the norm.
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Moreover, the IIT faculty had been demanding withdrawal of the 40 per cent cap on promotion of professors. The teachers were also opposing the provision of contractual appointment at entry level. The IIT council can raise the 40 per cent cap (when it’s met) for professors eligible for a higher pay scale, clarified Sibal.
The minister added that the exceptions should be identified and defined by the IITs themselves and guidelines for these cases should be prepared by the institutes.
There were mixed reactions from IIT professors who were not part of the meeting, even as the general mood in the IITs was one of relief as the two parties came to a common platform on the issue.
B S Sastry, vice-president of IIT-Kharagpur’s Teachers’ Association, said: “A lot of flexibility has been introduced and we are happy with it. Tomorrow, we will meet the directors and chalk out the broad guidelines for the implementation.”
U A Yagnik, faculty at IIT-Gandhinagar, said: “Our contention was that the issues relating to recruitments and scholarships be left to the IITs. There were many ego problems with the minister, looking at the way he has been behaving. Post-discussions at the meeting today, what the minister has said does indicate that the issue is resolved. The IITs have no option but to accept the ‘exceptions’.”
Some professors, however, said they needed clarity about the ‘exceptions’ that Sibal referred to. “The dialogue between Kapil Sibal and the IIT faculty has been a positive step. This has helped take the issue forward. Some demands made have been met and some other issues are still being discussed with the government. It seems like everything should be alright from now. The minister says that the present norms could be relaxed in exceptional cases but we aren’t sure of what that means. We are waiting for the IIT faculty association to share what they have on this,” said a professor from IIT Roorkee.
Tomorrow’s meeting, they hope, will further resolve the issue.