The Director of NIT Rourkela,Prof SK Sarangi, seems to be in a tug-of-war with Chairperson of the Board of Governors, Vasantha Ramaswamy. Originally, the tussle started in January 2015 with the dismissal of a probationary employee.

The MHRD was dragged into this battle, but was unable to do anything, as the matter was not in its purview under the NITSER Act. The MHRD also considered modifying the act to empower itself to mediate in such battles, and the move was to be discussed at the NIT conclave early this month.

The matter reached a head late last month, when the director Prof. Sarangi suspended Registrar SK Upadhyay for dereliction of duty. Although BoG chairperson Ramaswamy set aside the suspension, the director declined to honour it citing rules that such an order could be given only by the complete BoG  when it meets.

Subsequently, the MHRD cut the plan grants given to NIT Rourkela in Q3 from Rs. 40 crore to just Rs. 5 crore. The stated reason for this major change was the internal tussle for control of the institute between the director and the chairperson.

The BoG was to meet yesterday in New Delhi, to discuss the suspension, after Upadhyay’s petition challenging the suspension was rejected by the Odisha High Court.

It is only the students who suffer in these conflicts, and we hope that NIT Rourkela is able to come out of such internecine battles soon.