Aligarh Muslim University

New Delhi, Feb. 14: The Aligarh Muslim University has demanded an IIT tag for its engineering wing, thrusting on the government a political dilemma at a time it has shelved the promise of an IIT to another university.

The human resource development ministry is evaluating a proposal submitted earlier this month to upgrade the Aligarh university’s Zakir Hussein College of Engineering and Technology to an IIT, The Telegraph has learnt.

Junior HRD minister M.A.A. Fatmi, it is learnt, is keen that the university’s demand be met and ministry officials are to discuss its merits on Monday, government sources said.

Just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls where the UPA is counting heavily on minority support, few in the government want to upset the AMU, its students or those backing the demand, the sources said.

But the AMU demand has come within days of the IIT Council striking down a government promise to upgrade the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU), to an IIT.

The IIT Council is the highest executive body of the tech schools and the HRD ministry has decided to adhere to its view on the IT-BHU upgrade, leading to protests on the campus.

“In such a scenario, granting the AMU college IIT status, when it was not even on our radar, will be hard to explain to the BHU and its students,” a top HRD ministry official said.

But AMU vice-chancellor P.K. Abdul Azis said: “We believe the Zakir Hussein College deserves autonomy from the university and IIT status in particular. If the government can promise the IT-BHU the status of an IIT, we believe the ZHCET can also qualify.”