SC notice to Centre, IITs on quota ‘flout’ in faculty recruitments

SC notice to Centre, IITs on quota ‘flout’ in faculty recruitments

The petitioner alleged IITs are not following transparent hiring process, which opens up chances for non-deserving candidates to join by exerting influence

Supreme Court of India
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R. Balaji | New Delhi | 

 Published 25.11.21, 01:33 AM

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre and the 23 IITs on a petition alleging that these institutions were not offering reservation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes while recruiting teachers or admitting research students.

A bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao, B.R. Gavai and B. Nagarathna, however, made it clear that it was seeking a response only on the limited issue of non-implementation of the quota policy, and not on the claim of the petitioner that a large number of IIT students had committed suicide because of harassment and his demand that the performance of faculty members be evaluated and non-performers sacked.

The petition has been filed by Dr Sachchidan and Pandey a geothermal energy researcher.

In his petition filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, Pandey has alleged that the process followed by the country’s 23 IITs to admit candidates to research programmes and appoint teachers is “completely unconstitutional, illegal and arbitrary. The Respondents 2-24 are not following the guidelines of reservation as per the constitutional mandate.”

These IITs are also not following a transparent recruitment process, which opens up opportunities for non-deserving candidates to join the premier tech schools by exerting influence, the petitioner alleged. Such an appointment process increases the chances of corruption, favouritism and discrimination and has a telling effect on the institutions’ rankings and technological growth and is one of the reasons for the country’s technological backwardness, Pandey alleged.

According to the petitioner, the Union government had on June 9, 2008, written letters to the directors of the IITs of Kharagpur, Madras, Bombay, Kanpur, Roorkee and Guwahati, asking them to implement reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs while recruiting assistant professors for science and technology courses and all ranks of teachers for the humanities and management streams. In November 2019, the Centre extended the quota benefits to all posts in all disciplines.

However, the IITs have been violating the quota policy that provides for 15 per cent reservation for SCs, 7.5 per cent for STs and 27 per cent for OBCs, the petition alleged.
























Pandey claimed that the IITs in Madras, Bombay, Gandhinagar, Tirupati, Dhanbad, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Roorkee, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar had only 68 SC, 10 ST and 194 OBC teachers among a cumulative faculty strength of 3,581, while the remaining were general candidates.

He also submitted that the number of faculty members from north Indian states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is low compared to their overall population.

Pandey claimed that the information he has submitted in court was based on replies to his RTI queries.

“…The RTI replies received by the petitioner from the respondents (the respective IITs) itself shows that the percentages of faculty belonging to the abovementioned states are around 4.91 per cent, 7.92 per cent and 27.65 per cent in IIT Tirupati, IIT Madras and IIT Gandhinagar, respectively,” the petition said.

The percentage at IIT Kharagpur is 13.77, according to the petition.

“The remaining IITs didn’t provide the state and category-wise data requested by the petitioner in his RTI application,” Pandey said.

Alleging opacity in the recruitment process, Pandey said in the petition: “…The Respondents No. 2-24 have never exposed about the standards set by the IITs for recruiting its faculty members….”

BTech student commits suicide by shooting self with illegal gun

Alwar: BTech student commits suicide by shooting self with illegal gun

 

Staff Writer | Updated:
November 20, 2021 5:53 pm

Home » City Reports » Alwar: BTech student commits suicide by shooting self with illegal gun

Yash Yadav who committed suicide.

Jaipur: A BTech first-year student, identified as Yash Yadav, allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with a gun that he bought illegally. Seventeen-year-old Yash had got admission to a Noida-based engineering college after clearing the senior secondary examination.

Yash’s family hails from Uttar Pradesh but has been living in the Bhiwadi area of Alwar district for a long time. His father, Omprakash Yadav, runs a garment shop in Central Market. Yash was alone in the house when the incident took place on Friday night. When the elder brother reached home, he found Yash’s body lying in a pool of blood in his room. The police were informed. The body was handed over to the relatives after the post-mortem on Saturday morning.

It has come up during preliminary investigation that Yash did not get good ranks in the JEE results. He was under stress because he couldn’t get admission to a reputed government college due to the poor marks. After enrolling in a private college, Yash was supposed to move to Noida on Saturday, but he ended his life by shooting himself. Police have launched an investigation into how Yash got the illegal gun.

Police said that they have spoken to the family members, but till now the reason behind the suicide is not known. Yash’s elder brother has also recently completed IIT studies. There are only four members in the family, two brothers and parents.

First published: November 20, 2021

No progress in investigation into death of IIT student - The Hindu

No progress in investigation into death of IIT student

STAFF REPORTER

KOLLAM, NOVEMBER 09, 2021 19:39 IST

Fathima Latheef’s father and sister with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: TH

On second death anniversary, father seeks CM’s support for speedy probe

Even two years after her alleged suicide and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) taking over the probe, there hasn’t been any progress in the investigation into the death of Fathima Latheef.

On her second death anniversary on Tuesday, her father Abdul Latheef met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking his intervention for a speedy and fair investigation. Apart from the CBI team visiting her home once and a recent summons to appear before the CBI court in Chennai to record their statements under Section 164, there has been no progress in the case, says her family. The Chief Minister assured the family of all support and said the State Government would make arrangements so that the family could meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. Mr. Stalin, who was the Leader of the Opposition at the time of her death, had marked his protest and demanded a time-bound investigation.
Botch-up bid alleged

19-year-old Fathima was found dead in her hostel room at the Indian Institute of Madras, on November 9, 2019. According to her family, the Kottupuram police had tried to botch up investigation and close the case as a suicide. While her family retrieved notes left by Fathima in her phone accusing some faculty members, the police officials said Fathima committed suicide since she could not score good marks in the first-semester examination. Her family points out that Fathima, a very bright student and a rank holder, had no reason to end her life and she always scored good marks in all her examinations after joining the IIT. They alleged that the young girl was facing consistent harassment from some faculty members and her friends seemed scared. After widespread protests, the case was first transferred to CCB and then to the CBI.
Visit by CBI team

When there was no progress in the case after the CBI taking over it, her father had approached the CBI director expressing his disappointment. Later, the CBI team visited Kollam in December 2020 for recording the statement of her family, more than a year after her death. Reportedly, COVID-19 related restrictions had caused the delay and the family expects some kind of headway in the coming days.

Why did Fathima Latheef hang herself?

Why did Fathima Latheef hang herself? 

Her family has no answer yet

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had assured Fathima's father Abdul Latheef that all possible steps would be taken to ensure justice for Fathima.

Published: 

06th November 2021 05:20 PM 

Fathima Latheef was pursuing an integrated MA programme at IIT-M.
By Online Desk

CHENNAI: On November 9, it will be two years since 18-year-old Fathima Latheef died by suicide at the IIT-Madras hostel.

Fathima, a native of Kollam in Kerala, was pursuing a master's degree in humanities and development studies when she hanged herself.

At the time of her death, her mobile phone had a note naming a faculty, who it allegedly said, was responsible for her death. The note also mentioned the names of a few other faculty members who apparently discriminated against her.

Soon after Fathima's death, her kin including her sister Ayesha had visited Chennai but there was no proper response from the authorities at IIT-M. But the IIT-M, in a press statement, later said it is "committed to do whatever is required as per law and ensure a fair play."

At that time, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had assured Fathima's father Abdul Latheef that all possible steps would be taken to ensure justice for Fathima.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had taken over the probe into the case but there has been no headway so far.

In July this year, Vipin P Veetil, an assistant professor with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences had resigned alleging caste discrimination at the IIT-M.