The Gajendra Chauhan-led FTII society may get its full three-year term till June 2018 as the I&B ministry has apparently taken a favourable view of its initiatives.
According to sources, there is a view that several key measures like introduction of new syllabus, creation of a state-of-the-art room theatre, acting studio and getting master's degree equivalence for six PG diploma courses from the Association of Indian Universities have been taken since the appointment of the Governing Council in June, 2015.
For the first time, the FTII was thrown open to the public on October 17 and 18 last year and 13,000 people visited and new initiatives like introducing more courses are planned, they said.
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"Keeping these steps, which are a work in progress, in mind, there is a view that the Council should be allowed to continue for the usual period of three years. The ministry is looking at this possibility," a source said.
The I&B ministry appoints the FTII society from which the Governing Council is chosen.
Officials also said steps were taken in recent months for completing courses in time and and ensuring that unlike earlier, there are no zero years -- in which there are no admissions.
The term of the previous FTII Chairman had ended on March 4, 2014. The Chauhan-led team was given the charge in June 2015. His appointment had sparked a controversy and the students of FTII had gone on a strike for more than four months.
"A new council is given a term calculated from the date on which the term of the previous council ends. Consequently, Chauhan's appointment was made in June 2015 but till March 3, 2017 only," the source said.
It is learnt that the present council had also written to the Ministry about its tenure of less than two years.
"The ministry has appreciated several of the initiatives taken under the present Governing Council. The issue related to its tenure is being looked at," an official said.
Meanwhile, the FTII Governing Council at a meeting today decided that it will explore the possibility of starting short-term film related courses at various universities across the country. Many universities are learnt to have approached the FTII for starting such courses.
(Reopens DEL 65)
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