Rourkela, Aug. 6: The Centre has dismissed Vasanta Ramaswamy, chairperson of the board of governors for the National Institute of Technology here.

In February, the then Union HRD minister, Smriti Irani, had issued a directive asking both Ramaswamy and S.K. Sarangi, the then director of NIT, Rourkela, to resign from their posts. This followed a spat between Ramaswamy and Sarangi, which had reached the HRD ministry's ears.

While Sarangi immediately obliged, Ramaswamy did not and continued to hold the post.

The institute received a communiqué from the Union ministry about the dismissal last evening. "We received a communication from the government that she has been removed by the order of visitor, President of India," said registrar of NIT Rourkela S.K. Upadhyaya.

Reacting to the news, president of NIT Rourkela Teacher's Association B.B. Biswal said: "It was expected much earlier and we had learnt that the government had already begun the process for her removal. It was just a matter of time."

The controversy began when a turf war ensued between the former director S.K. Sarangi and Ramaswamy.

Sarangi had suspended registrar Upadhyaya last year. Responding to a question as to why the registrar was being suspended, Sarangi had said: "He has been suspended for insubordination." Upadhyaya had reported some issues to the chairperson and this did not bode well for him and the director suspended him.

However, this led to the turf war between Sarangi and Ramaswamy. When the chairperson asked the director to withdraw the order, director stuck to his guns and a bitter battle ensued.

The spat between the two reached the ministry but Irani did not intervene in the director's order.

The registrar remained suspended for six months. The post of registrar is a contractual one and this is his second term, which expires in 2018. A few months later, Upadhyay was reinstated.

This February, however, the minister ordered both Sarangi and Ramaswamy to resign. Sarangi was allowed to continue as acting director and retired on June 30, the scheduled date.

Ramaswamy, however, did not resign. She had joined for a three-year term on November 14, 2014, and would have continued till November 2017.