IIT-R, alumni assn face-off as institute delinks itself

LUCKNOW: The Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IITR) and its alumni association are at loggerhead after IITR dissociated itself from the alumni association (IITRAA) earlier this month as it felt that the association was bringing a bad name to the Institute. The alumni association alleged that IIT-R director wants the president of IITRAA be nominated solely by the director even without the consent of executive committee. They also alleged that the director wants the dean of resources and alumni affair (DORA) to be the secretary of the association and that the finances of the association be controlled by IITR.

“It is very unfortunate that Prof AK Chaturvedi, director IIT Roorkee has taken an autocratic decision to dissociate the institute from IITRoorkee Alumni Association, said Achal Mittal,vice president, IITRAA.

Mittal said, “Many eminent alumni were sad by this decision. They have written to the director to revert his decision. Alumni feel that the director should concentrate on achieving academic excellence at the institute. The decision of the director comes from the mind-set to take away the autonomy of the association.”

“He wants to nominate the president and instate dean as permanent secretary, thus taking over the financial & administrative control of the association,” Mittal said. Anuj Varshneya, an alumnus of 1982 Batch (Civil) and vice president of IITRAA - Lucknow chapter, an elected member of EC 2020-22 said that IITR director, Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi’s decision to delink the Institute with the alumni association is not justified. He said that alumni association should not be controlled by the Institute.

“Director Chaturvedi has no legal right to take a unilateral decision to dissociate IITR from IITRAA. I personally and on behalf of executive committee of the alumni association would request you to reconsider your decisions. We at EC are happy to have a personal meeting with you to put forth the facts in front of you and remove misunderstandings that have been created by any one,” Varshney wrote to IIT-R director.

Prof AK Chaturvedi said, “Since the activities of alumni association were bringing a bad name to the institute, we had no option but to delink it. Alumni at large are very happy with the decision of the institute. .”

Director of the Institute said, “Previous president of the alumni association BK Chaturvedi (1969 batch) and current president Mohinder Nayyar (1966 batch), wrote letters to me saying that IIT-R is getting a bad name because of repeated wrongdoings of the alumni association. Therefore, IIT Roorkee should delink (disassociate) itself from the AA.”