Casteist remark: IITK notice to 4 professors

KANPUR : The board of governors (BOG) of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) has sought explanation from four senior professors of the institute for allegedly making casteist remark against a newly appointed professor in the department of aerospace. The case dates back to January 2018 when assistant professor Subrahmanyam Saderla was appointed.

KANPUR :The board of governors (BOG) of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) has sought explanation from four senior professors of the institute for allegedly making casteist remark against a newly appointed professor in the department of aerospace.

The BOG at its meeting held in Noida on late Thursday evening has directed the four professors to submit their explanation within 15 days.

The BOG may take any decision in this connection at its meeting to be held on October 1, said an IIT official who is in the know of the things but didn’t wanted to be named.

He said the BOG took up the issue after getting the report of a

THE BOG MAY TAKE ANY DECISION IN THIS CONNECTION AT ITS MEETING TO BE HELD ON OCTOBER 1

retired judge which indicted the four professors for causing harassment and passing castiest remarks against assistant professor Subrahmanyam Saderla.

Saderla had accused Dr Rajiv Shekhar (now the director of IIT Dhanbad), professor CS Uadhyaya, professor Ishan Sharma and professor Sanjay Mital for making casteist remarks against him in January 2018 when he was appointed.

The then acting director of IIT-K professor Manindra Agarwal had constituted an internal committee and an external committee headed by the vice chancellor of the AKTU professor Vinay Patha. The committees had found the professors guilty.

Sadrela had also lodged complaint with the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC). The commission had directed the institute for lodging an FIR against the four. But the accused professors got a stay from the high court. Later, the matter was referred to one man committee of a retired judge. The committee submitted its report in the last week of August to the IIT-K. The report has not been made public so far.