New Delhi, Sept. 27: IIT boards may be allowed to tweak a controversial new pay regime if it suffocates attempts at hiring top teachers, education minister Kapil Sibal today hinted, signalling fresh efforts to break a deadlock over salaries.

In a subtle but clear shift in his stance, Sibal today stressed that the new pay regime was meant only to lay down guidelines and could be interpreted by individual IIT boards according to their needs.

In an interview to a television channel, HRD minister Sibal said he was keen to extend the autonomy enjoyed by the boards of governors that head IITs.

He said he had called a meeting of the IIT council – the highest executive body of the institutes — where increasing their autonomy would be on the agenda.

“If the IIT faculty walk two steps, I am willing to walk a mile,” the minister said.

His comments are significant because they suggest the HRD ministry may allow the boards of the IITs to relax regulations on appointments placed on the institutes under the new pay regime.

The new pay notification requires that at least 10 per cent of all faculty at an IIT must be hired on contract at salaries that faculty say are too low to attract fresh talent.

Sibal’s comments have triggered hope in the faculty that the IITs may be allowed to hire brighter PhD graduates as teachers at a higher salary as an assistant professor rather than on contract.

“These are positive signals. We look forward to further developments in this direction,” M. Thenmozhi, the president of the All India IIT Faculty Federation, said over phone from Chennai.

The faculty has argued that a condition capping the number of professors eligible to a higher pay at 40 per cent could stall the growth of younger professors – as the cap would be filled by senior professors.

In response to a question during the interview today, Sibal hinted the government was willing to relook at the cap in years to come if such stagnation wasreported from the IITs.