B Muthuraman is the Managing Director of Tata Steel, India’s largest steel manufacturer. He was nominated as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Kharagpur by the Honourable President of India, Ms. Pratibha Patil. In the wake of the recent happenings at IIT-Kharagpur, Mr. Muthuraman has taken the initiative to interact with the students in person. We sincerely hope that his meeting with the student representatives, later in the day, concludes on a satisfactory note.

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Following was the Press statement released by the Institute on Sunday. A press conference was later held the next day.

Rohit Kumar, a third year student of IIT Kharagpur, was regularly visiting the institute hospital since the last three days on account of chronic headaches. On his way back to the hostel on the third day he fainted and fell off a cycle rickshaw and sustained serious injuries.He was again rushed to the hospital, upon which it was decided that he should be taken to Kolkata. However, on the way, his situation deteriorated and he was instead taken to Midnapore, where he was unfortunately declared brought dead.

A peaceful candlelight condolence march was organized by the students in the evening at 7 PM. The students who had gathered in large numbers walked from the Gymkhana and placed candles around the Bidhan Chowk in front of the institute main building.

Meanwhile, the supposed address by the registrar to the students was only a rumour. The entire student community has been informed of the minutes of the meeting held between the student representatives and the administration through notices. The exact status on the resignations of the Director and Dean of Students’ Affairs is yet to be known. The arrival of the Board of Governors Chairman Dr. Muthuraman would be keenly awaited in this regard since the director’s resignation needs to be ratified by the Board of Governors before being forwarded to the HRD Ministry.

Download the word document here

The following were the points discussed and resolved :

1. One-man Enquiry Committee be appointed preferably with a retired High Court Level Judge to enquire into entire episode of 22nd March 2009 leading to the resignation of Prof. D. Acharya as Director of the Institute.  However necessary permission for appointment will be obtained. The Enquiry Committee shall be given thirty days from the date of appointment for the work.
2. Prof. N.R. Mandal, Head, Dept. of Ocean Engineering & Naval Architecture be requested to coordinate with the district hospital, local authorities and parents of Rohit Kumar and also render all assistance to his parents.

As promised yesterday at the TOAT open house session, a meeting was convened by the Institute Administration earlier this morning to chalk out and finalize the action plan in entirety. Student representatives along with hall presidents have come up with a detailed action plan which will be made public to the students today evening.

As of now, an independent judicial enquiry process has been initiated to be supervised  by an external judicial officer. Institute has also been asked to send a detailed report of yesterday’s incident to the HRD ministry.

• The candle-light march that was scheduled for 6 pm and then cancelled is now back on track with a minor delay. All those on campus are requested to attend this event at Bidhan Chowk, 6 pm. A slight delay is likely. Wear black, bring a candle. Make your protest count. Registrar will also be addressing the students later tonight.
• A separate student meeting for fifth year undergraduate students was organised at the Jnan Ghosh Stadium earlier this evening. The suggestions discussed will be updated soon on our site.
• Classes will resume as scheduled from tomorrow.

The Scholars’ Avenue will be tracking further developments today. The action plan will be displayed on our site soon after release. Subscribe to our RSS feed (link) or bookmark this page.

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