Faced with stiff opposition from the faculty of IITs, the government is considering doing away with the lecturer posts in the elite institutes.
If the government's decision is implemented, there may be three-tier system in the faculty of IITs -- professor, associate professors and assistant professors.
The IIT Faculty Federation has been demanding abolition of lecturer posts. If such posts are abolished, the IITs may recruit freshers on contract at the level of assistant professor, HRD Ministry sources said.
However, the contractual appointment may depend on the requirement of specific department, not uniform to all departments, the sources said.
The federation members had a meeting with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal this week where they also demanded starting a performance-based incentive scheme.
The government is likely to accept the demand and bring changes to its earlier notification on the pay structure for central technical institutes, including the IITs.
The federation has been demanding flexible cadre system. They are saying there should not be any restriction on the number of teachers in the categories of assistant professors, associate professors and professors as envisaged in the recently announced pay package for them.
The federation has deferred its agitation programme on the issue after the meeting with Sibal. It is waiting for a fresh notification on the issue.
