New directors named for 6 IITs as Centre moves to fill vacancies

NEW DELHI: The Union education ministry appointed directors to six Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) after the tenures of their existing heads ended, officials aware of the matter said on Thursday.

The IITs in Kanpur, Guwahati, Goa, BHU-Varanasi, Jodhpur, and Dhanbad were those to which new directors were appointed, said officials.

According to officials, Manindra Agrawal, a professor in the department of computer science and engineering at IIT Kanpur has now been appointed the institute’s director.

In a series of posts on social media platform X, IIT-Kanpur said that Agrawal, a is a pioneer in cybersecurity and blockchain in the country, and he has numerous accomplishments, including the development of the AKS Primality Test.

“He has received the highest national and international honours for his contributions, including the Padma Shri Award, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, the Godel Prize, the Fulkerson Prize, and the first Infosys Prize for Mathematics, among others,” the institute said.

Devendra Jalihal, a Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras, has been appointed as Dire- ctor of IIT Guwahati, officials said.

Avinash Kumar Agarwal, professor at IIT Kanpur’s Department of Mechanical Engineering has been appointed as Director of IIT Jodhpur. Sukumar Mishra, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT, Delhi, appointed IIT-Dhanbad director, DS Katti to be IIT-Goa head.

And, Amit Patra, a professor from IIT-Kharagpur’s department of Electrical Engineering, has been appointed the new IIT BHU Director, and DS Katti, a Professor, at Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering (BSBE) at IIT Kanpur, will take over as the director of IIT-Goa, officials added.

The search-cum-selection committees at each IITs shortlist the names for the IIT Directors, and send it to the President of India, who is the visitor of all IITs, for the approval. The President then takes the final call and informs the ministry. The Ministry of Education (MoE) had last month invited applications for the post of Director of IIIT Hyderabad and IIT Kharagpur.

The process for the appointment of a new director of IIT Bombay is also underway, officials said.