The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) here on Saturday denied approaching JNU faculty members for recruitment citing "deteriorating situation in the university".
An e-mail purportedly sent by IIT-Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao in December to the institutes' deans suggesting recruitment of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) faculty went viral earlier this week.
"There are news items making rounds that IIT-Delhi is actively seeking to recruit faculty from JNU. This narrative is based on an e-mail I am supposed to have sent to heads of departments to encourage them to do so," Rao said in a Facebook post.
"Any sane person would know that there is indeed very little overlap in research areas between JNU and IIT-Delhi. To say that IIT is actively seeking faculty from JNU is far from truth and a distorted way of looking at things," he added.
According to the e-mail purportedly sent by Rao on December 19 last year, "I am receiving feelers from senior JNU faculty showing willingness to move to IIT-Delhi considering the deteriorating situation in JNU."