Rajnish Srivastava at NIT, Jamshedpur. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, Aug. 5: National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jamshedpur, finally got its full time director today.

Rajnish Srivastava, the former dean (academics) Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal, and adviser AICTE, took over the charge from acting director S.K. Sarangi at director’s office.

Srivastava said there are various problems which the institute is facing, his priority would be to solve these issues as soon as possible.

He claimed that “positive steps” would be taken to solving the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) issue that led an agitation of the teachers of the institute. Only five teachers took part in the CAS interview that was conducted couple of months back.

“Most of the teachers here have not appeared for the CAS interview. This would be kept in mind when we decide the future course of action,” said Srivastava.

According to him CAS is an important issue for teachers as it provides them with the opportunity of promotion according to a teacher’s merit.

The new director said the institute is lacking on many fronts and steps would be taken for catching up with other technical institute of the country.

“Issues have piled up here as the institute was not having a director for a long time. There are unique issues like the institute has received funds but has not been able to spend it. I would first bring out these issues, prioritise them and then take action accordingly,” Srivastava said.

NIT Jamshedpur is devoid of a full time director for past few years. Last full time director was Ganapati Panda, who joined the institute on November 10, 2005. Citing medical problems, he stopped visiting the institute from May 1, 2006. He later resigned from his post on August 14, 2006.

The interview for new director was held on April 18, 2007 after which Srivastava was selected as the director here. However, he failed to take charge due to delay in getting approval from the President of India.

The appointment of new director has rekindled hope for some positive outcome of various pending issues among the institute’s staff and students.

“We are sure that the new director would help in improving the present state of affairs here. A permanent director was one of our demands during the agitation apart from the CAS issue,” said president of NIT Teachers’ Association M.K. Agarwal.

The institute’s students are also looking forward to some improvement in institute’s infrastructure now that the new director has taken charge. “We lack several facilities in our hostel. We hope that the new director would take steps in improving the infrastructure and overall academic environment here,” said a student.