New Delhi, May 7: IIT Delhi is working towards an out-of-court settlement of an arrears claim by BJP politician Subramanian Swamy, who once taught economics at the tech school, sources have told The Telegraph.

Swamy, a veteran gadfly who relishes a good fight, claims the institute owes him Rs 70 lakh. The matter has been in the courts for over two decades. Swamy is now a Rajya Sabha member, described by the Congress as "the BJP's new gift to Parliament" after he turned up the heat on the AgustaWestland helicopter deal.

A few months ago, the IIT's board of governors set up a committee to explore possible solutions, the sources said. The committee is headed by board member and Gujarat Technological University vice-chancellor Akshai Aggarwal.

Swamy had been appointed a professor at IIT Delhi from October 1, 1971, on a year's probation that was later extended by three months. While he was on probation, the institute sacked him saying his appointment had been illegal and arbitrary. Delhi High Court declared the termination void on February 20, 1991, and held that Swamy was entitled to be treated as "continued in service". During a part of this period, Swamy had taught at Harvard University.

In March 1991, the IIT asked Swamy to rejoin it. He did so on March 27 and resigned the same day. He then demanded his salary and allowances for the period between December 1972 and March 1991.

The institute cited Fundamental Rule 54 of the Union government to demand details of Swamy's earnings from Harvard. Under the rules, the IIT needed to pay only the balance. Swamy contended that he should be deemed to have been on extraordinary leave, meaning he was not required to provide details of his earnings elsewhere. But the institute rejected the claim.

Swamy later approached the UPA government for relief but then education minister Kapil Sibal turned him down.

After the NDA came to power, the human resource development ministry sought the views of the department of personnel and training on the matter. In December 2014, the department said the IIT was not bound by the government's rules.

The ministry passed this on to the tech school, which then set up the committee.

Swamy's phone was switched off today. He had, however, told this newspaper earlier that Fundamental Rule 54 related to reinstatement and did not apply to him.

He had said that since the high court had ruled his sacking was void and that he was entitled to be treated as "continued in service", this was not a case of reinstatement.

IIT Delhi director V. Ramgopal Rao did not answer calls to his mobile and landline phones.

Institute sources said the committee had been set up when scientist Vijay Bhatkar was chairperson of the tech school. Industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, the current chairman, was appointed early this year.

The last board of governors meeting, chaired by Birla, changed the committee's composition by replacing Ashok Gupta, whose tenure in the board of governors had ended, with board member Sanjeev Sanghi.