Centre asks IIT Kharagpur to review suspension of Prof. Rajiv Kumar
17 Dec, 2012Professor Rajiv Kumar, belonging to the computer science department, was suspended in May 2011 for allegedly accessing media for personal gain and maligning the institution and misrepresentation of facts regarding the issue of laptop purchase. He had used RTI to ascertain the details of the marks obtained by students during the entrance examination. He also raised questions about marking in the IIT-JEE entrance examination system while questioning the seating arrangement of IIT students during internal examinations. He had also alleged that a section of officials of IIT-Kharagpur were involved in running a fake institute within its campus which gave diploma to students.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development has written to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur to review its decision on Professor Rajiv Kumar, who is under suspension for the past 19 months. The letter by the Ministry of HRD points that while the Ministry would not like to interfere in the disciplinary matters of the institute, the suspension cannot continue beyond a definite period and the Board of IIT-Kharagpur should have prescribed a time-limit for the next review, which should not exceed 180 days as per CCS (CCA) rules. The IIT Kharagpur is now expected to review the case of Professor Rajiv Kumar for his continued suspension as per the provisions of Central Civil Services (CCS) and Classification Control and Appeal (CCA) rules and pass a speaking order in this matter.