90.Permanent Director Replaces Director in Charge

When the Directors of all N.I.Ts were ousted en masse, the senior most professor had taken charge. I had indicated earlier that this Director in charge was the person who relieved me from the Vigilance duty and appointed me as Dean (PG & Research). It took almost a year for the regular directors to be appointed in NITC. Meanwhile, even though the In-charge director had limited powers, he could do many things for the teaching and nonteaching staff within his limitations. In fact, he could show that if a senior faculty from the same institute is appointed as Director, many things could be done. Importing a Director from some other institution is not absolutely essential for solving the problems in the NITs.

Notifications for all 13 NITs appeared together and interviews were being conducted. A few professors from NITC also had applied. Some of them, it was known had even appeared for the interview. Many rumours were in the air about the auction amount to be paid and the likely person to come as the new Director of NITC. I heard that the Director ousted from NITC against whom I as CVO had reported some financial irregularities had also applied and was trying to get back here itself. As we had already been on the collision course with him on these matters, I wanted to know whether he is coming back to Calicut. Since I knew the CVO in MHRD ( who was from Bihar IAS cadre, but a Malayali) personally through earlier correspondence and had talked to him over phone, one day after 8 PM, I called him in his personal number and requested him whether the same person against whom I had sent the allegations is coming back to Calicut. He told me politely that he is not the person in charge of new appointments and promised me he will find out from the Secretary concerned and call me back after half an hour. True to his word, he called me back and stated that this time a panel of four names are being prepared for each NITC and the particular person is not in the panel chosen for NITC. I thanked him profusely as I was relieved as I knew I will have difficult times if he returns. Later I came to know that he was appointed in NIT Nagpur, in his own state, don’t know by paying how much.

The new director appointed in NITC was a former professor of physics from NIT Warangal. It was a wonder how a professor of physics could become the head of the institution of a national institute of technology. If I remember correct, a person without a basic degree in engineering could not become the principal of an engineering college in Kerala. Strange are the ways of the MHRD as many ‘wonderful’ things were happening. Probably this was one among those wonders. When he took over, all the Deans were ready to tender their resignations like the ministers change when a new Chief Minister takes oath. However, as the term of the Deans were not completed, he allowed the Deans to continue till the end of their three-year term and requested for the cooperation from all of us.

As Dean, I had completed only one year which means I had two more years. Throughout this period, I had full freedom in academic matters. It was with his full support we started the new M.Tech programmes in engineering and M.Sc(Tech) programmes in science departments. All these courses were among the highly preferred branches. Unfortunately, two B.Tech programmes started during his period , viz, Chemical Engineering and Engineering Physics were those among the lowest preferred branches in NITC. In Kerala, Chemical Engineering was not popular as this course was confined only to two or three engineering colleges and we suggested to him that there may not be much demand for this branch among Keralites. Engineering Physics course was his own brain child which was also among the least preferred ones.

We had a difference of opinion only once. It was observed that the majority of the students admitted to NITC with GATE ( Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) score was from the native state of the director. Obviously, this was because there were too many coaching centres for GATE in that state and the students did well. In Kerala at that time there were very few GATE coaching centres. Once, casually I suggested that in many I.I.Ts, GATE score is used only as a cut off score for calling candidates for interview and final selection was based on the performance in a written test and interview. Immediately he was alerted and categorically stated that there is no need as GATE examination is a national eligibility test and a change in the criterion for admission is not at all required. Obviously, the reason was known.

I was appointed as the Chairman of the Screening Committee for faculty recruitment twice during his regime, probably because he wanted a senior person who will follow the rules and regulations for appointments implicitly. I accepted the offer as a recognition for my integrity and did the job sitting with the screening committee for each department including the Heads of the different departments and the Dean (UG). First time everything went on smoothly, but second time he wanted a few persons from abroad who had sent just an email to the Director requesting him to consider for appointment. I was of the opinion that such persons cannot be considered unless they send a completed application electronically along with scanned copies of degree certificates. This was because any one could make a bio-data without certificates and it will not be proper to call them for interview without verifying their credentials. However, the director had an extra awe for those who were working in some universities abroad. I told him simply because if someone is working in a foreign university alone is not a guarantee for the calibre of the person. I have seen many mediocre persons roaming around in some foreign universities. He was not very happy with this stand taken by me as he was of the opinion that those from abroad will not cheat and it is not proper to ask them for details. I tried to convince him that there are enough fake degree holders even abroad and making an electronic bio-data is the easiest thing in the world. But he wanted them to be called for interview and I refused. Then he formed a special search committee exclusively for such candidates in parallel. I completed my work of screening of candidates who had produced copies of certificates and did not take up any further work in screening or selection. It seems he conducted an interview with video conferencing and selected a few of such candidates.

Lot of civil works were going in the campus during the reign of this director. Buildings for two B,Tech departments, a new complex for the Science departments in the new campus etc were all in full swing. A new library building was being set up on the far side of the Calicut Mukkan road which was delayed for commissioning for a long time due to litigation between the contractor and NITC. Construction for a mega hostel with an estimate of 30 crores or so and a Super mega hostel with nearly 60 crores were initiated. This Director was in fact too good in bringing grant to the institute for infrastructure development. Once in a while, he used to call me for site inspection and all, but I used to find some excuse for not going with him as I knew from my earlier exposure to CVO work that this is an area where our hands can easily become dirty. Moreover, there was a Dean (Planning & Development) to help him in such matters.