77.Later administrators in Calicut REC /NITC

Even though  I had been part  of CREC/NITC  from 1969 – 2011, as  I joined  only in 1969, I could  not  work under  the  first principal of the college, Prof.M.V.Kesava Rao. During  my career spanning 42 years,  I worked  under  three  principals in  REC and four directors  under  NITC. Each one  of these bosses had  their own peculiarities and let  me  mention  some  of these as seen by me. I  may not be absolutely  correct in these, but  being a  brief  history of the institution, I have  to mention these. Sometimes  the  truth  as perceived by  me  may not  be very  pleasant.

It was in  1969 that  I joined as Associate  lecturer   in Electrical  Engineering. I was promoted as lecturer  in 1971  on completion of the  probation period  in 1971. The period from 1970 – 1983, generally the  situation in RECs  were  not very bright or rather   the institution  was going through a dark period in its history. The  major  reason for this in the first instance was the congenital defects, the   problems  in the  very formation  of the  RECs under the  dual control of the  central and state  governments. As the capital  expenditure was  fully borne by the central government, these  institutions were able to get very generous grants for  infrastructure  development. However, these  could  not be effectively utilized for  instructional purposes mainly because these  institutions  were affiliated  to   the  nearby  universities and did not have any academic autonomy. The  administration  was  under the Board  of governors  with   members  predominantly   from the  state government headed by the  Chairman none other than the  state education minister and  director of technical education, higher education secretary and finance secretary all  playing to the tune of the  minister. It was also felt that  the step  motherly attitude of these  members   from the  state  government was a reason   for  restricting   several  developments  in this  institution. The status  in short  was that of   ‘ a child  with  two mothers ‘ who will not get enough  milk to survive’.

From 1968 – 1981,  the  head  of the  institution was  Prof.K.M.Bahauddin. He had taken his M.S. from Manchester  University  in UK and was a Civil engineer and eminent educationist. However, in spite  of all his academic  distinction and administrative  capabilities, many felt that he had his own weaknesses.  There was always a coterie behind him who wanted  to exploit his weaknesses. As  the  head  of an institution of this size, it was  practically  impossible for one to know all the details of what is happening in the  institution directly. Naturally he  had to depend on a few  persons  who volunteered  to give  the  information on day to day happening  in the  institution. It looks he  believed  in these   volunteers  implicitly without cross checking. Very often   allegations  of personal favouritism   were  in plenty  during his regime.   This created  discontent and mistrust among the  employees and almost   perpetual   confrontation  resulted  between  the principal and  teaching staff association and  non-teaching  staff organization. Even, poor  me had a  few instances  in which  he acted strangely to put me to difficulties as  I have  mentioned in these  columns earlier. Since  the principal enjoyed  almost at  unlimited  power if he  was  in good terms with the Chairman  of the BoG, sometimes he was  obstinate  that what he says  is the rule and everyone has to follow  whatever  he does without any dissent. Several court cases  resulted   because  of the  difference  of opinion   between  the employee’s associations and the administration. Most  of these, the principal took as fighting him personally which resulted in further rift. If the  Chairman and Principal( Secretary) agreed, anything would be possible, but the moment  this  was  disturbed administration would reach a stalemate. Such a situation resulted  when the state education ministry was  with  another  party after a  long  tenure of another party.  As the  Chairman and Secretary(Principal) fell apart , a situation   was  created  in which   the principal had to leave  the college. So, he left the institutions as  Pro-Vice Chancellor  of Aligarh   Muslim University. It is  to be mentioned  that even after leaving CREC, he had  held several important  positions in education under the  central government, including  member of National Institute  of Education  Planning  and Administration(NIEPA), New Delhi.

After  Prof.Bahauddin   left, the senior most professor Prof.P.K.Charlu became  the  professor in charge for almost a year  or more. It was  interesting  to   hear a  slogan from  some  of the  students shouting “ Principal  Bahauddin, resign, let  Prof.Charlu take  over after  fitting  his dentures” ( Prof.Charlu   had got his  teeth   removed  for fixing  new dentures at that time). As  he was  only  in-charge  principal,  no policy  decisions  were made by him. It is only then new  Chairman was appointed and Dr.S.Unnikrishna Pillai was appointed as Principal in 1983. He was  professor  in Civil engineering in College of Engineering Thriruvananthapuram and  then  joined REC Calicut and had taken  his PhD from Queens University, Canada.

Without any doubt, the  period in which   Dr. Unnikrishna Pillai (UKP  for  his  students) was the principal was  the  golden years  of REC Calicut. He has done a lot for development of the college   starting  new  undergraduate and post graduate courses and  bringing in more infrastructure in the campus. With  new  courses started, additional  positions were available for promotion to the  members  of the  teaching and nonteaching staff. The stagnation at the  lower posts  suffered by many senior teachers  could  be  removed and those who had acquired   higher qualifications and could compete  with  candidates  from outside  were  promoted to deserving posts. There  were a few  cynics  even at that time, but  things were relatively peaceful during his regime. He  had left his family at Thiruvanathapuram and  most of the time was working for the  institution without any personal motive.  Only  incident  I can remember  was a student struggle  in which  the rampant students  started damaging the  equipment in the hydraulics laboratory when  he  requested the  police  to intervene and students  were asked  to vacate  the hostels  within a  few  hours  which invited  lot of criticism. As head of the institution his decision  was absolutely   required to stop  further damage to the  valuable institutional property. This also  resulted in lot of enemies  for him in the  institution. There  was a general complaint that  he was  not giving  due consideration  for the  human side  of many things. Some of the decisions  he took  towards   the end of his term  in 1996 was  opposed  by  most of the employees. During his  term of 13 years  as head  of the institution, he had been  respected and held in high esteem for the first  11 years.  He  never allowed  any coterie  to advise him and he took decisions  based  on his own conviction and judgement, which was  good  for the  future  of this great  institution  even if it might have  resulted in some  heartburns  for a few individuals. For this  reason, most of the students  and members of staff loved and respected  him.  Personally,  there was a few occasions  in which I had  serious  difference  of opinion with  him on certain  points and argued with him , but I am sure  he had  given proper attention to these  even if he did  not accept  it in public. In short, it was  his single-handed effort  which brought Calicut REC  as an institution of national   importance  and to a certain  extent  place  it on the  international map  of good academic institutions.

After  his term, almost everyone in the college  thought that  his trusted  lieutenant and long-time friend who had a long stint  in the  Union Public Service  Commission  and  Bits  Pilani and was  the Head  of the  Department  of Training and Placement would  replace him as Principal.  But, all  on a sudden , a new star appeared  on the horizon,   Dr.M.P  Chandrasekharan  became the  principal . When Prof  MPC  who was a close  friend  of many of us  became the principal one fine morning   , it was  really a surprise. It seems there  was some  undercurrents in the selection of the principal and the  appointment  of the  Vice Chancellor  of Cochin University  of Science  and Technology where  Prof.MPC was  in the  senate  panel  for   nomination  of the  VC.  Anyway, Prof.MPC  was a known  person to all, being in the institution who joined as  Associate  lecturer   like  many of us  and gradually  went up the ladder  slowly and steadily  to reach the  position of the  head  of the institution. With his   humorous touch   in the conversation and ability  to win any one   through his pleasant  way  of talking, he  had a few years  as principal. Naturally  he could  enjoy the  benefits  of the  earlier developments  in the college. Even though  the  efforts  of the college administration  to get academic autonomy started  right from the  beginning  of Dr.SUP’s term, it was during Prof.MPC’s term that RECs were  converted to National Institutes  of Technology  by an act of parliament. As the incumbent  principal of CREC , he was  allowed to   continue as the  first Director  of the N.I.T.Calicut. As per  the  statutes  for the  formation  on NITs, it was decided to make the appointment of the director as a contractual appointment for 5 years and new  appointments  were  made. However,  as Prof.MPC  could  not get reappointment as Director, he resigned  from NITC and took  up an appointment  in a self-financing  institution  in Tamil  Nadu. 

After  Prof.MPC, several  directors  have come and gone. Dr Gokhale was the  one who was appointed  immediately. He  was  removed  from the  post along with several other directors appointed  by the  first NDA  government . Dr.B.N.Nagaraj who was the senior  most  professor at that time  was appointed as interim director  of the institute. Subsequently  Dr G.R.C.Reddy   became  the Director  with whom  I had a reasonably long association as Dean (PG Studies  & Research), Coordinator  Academic Quality  Management and International  Liaison officer. I superannuated in 2011 while  Dr.G.R.C.Reddy was  the  Director. Dr.Bandopadhyaya followed Dr.G.R.C.Reddy and now  Dr Shivaji Chakravorthy  is the  Director.

Note: Among  those  mentioned above, Prof.K.M.Bahauddin, Prof.P.K.Charlu and Dr.M.P Chandrasekharan are  no longer alive with us now. My  sincere  homage to all  of them  and apologies  for any adverse comment, if any, on them in these  notes.