Students and alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) have signed petition requesting Raghunath K Shevgaonkar, Director of IIT-D not to resign under pressure and continue till his term.
The petition is being circulated through online social networking sites. It states that Sheygaonkar has dedicated his life to improving the educational system at the IITs and requests Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to decline his resignation and ask him to continue for his entire term.
“Professor Shevgaonkar is one of the best teachers I have studied under at IIT Delhi. The amount of time and effort he has put in to change the system at IIT Delhi and to improve the facilities here is significant,” said a student of IIT-D.
Since the students are currently on a vacation, they have opted for the online medium to gather support.
“After a considerable amount of people sign the petition , we will give it to director of IIT Delhi and HRD minister Smriti Irani,” said Sidharth, a third year student of IIT-D.
According to reports, IIT Delhi director Shevgaonkar resigned under pressure from the HRD Ministry to release payment amounting to nearly Rs 70 lakh to former faculty member and now senior BJP leader Subramanium Swamy as his ‘salary dues’ between 1972 and 1991.
The resignation of a prestigious Institute’s director, came after alleged pressure from the central administration on same.