The union ministry of statistics and programme implementation has requested the views of every member of the ISI council regarding the ISI bill, which purportedly aims to diminish the council’s influence by granting increased authority to a nominated board of governors.

In a notice issued on January 9, the ministry said: “Comments are invited from individual members of the ISI governing council” as part of a “pre-legislative consultation.”

The notice says: “The members of the ISI governing council are pertinent stakeholders as regards the proposed ISI Bill, 2025.”

The council is the highest administrative body on the campus.

Its members have been told to “directly” share their comments or suggestions, “preferably” within a week.

An ISI professor, who is part of the council, alleged that the ministry had previously nullified the proposal for a consultation with the council concerning the bill.

“The ministry’s officials struck down the proposal of any consultation at the level of the council. They said public opinion would suffice. It is only after a sustained protest built by the teachers, students, researchers and alumni against the unilateral move that the ministry has acknowledged the role of the council,” the professor said.

The ISI’s officiating director, Ayanaendranath Basu, said that once the pre-legislative consultation was over, they would request the council chairman to convene a meeting.

The move to seek responses from the council members comes days after a meeting of the council was postponed, citing “unforeseen circumstances”.

The bill seeks to replace ISI’s existing society-based governance structure with a statutory framework headed by a board of governors, the majority of whose members would be nominated by the Centre.

Teachers at ISI have protested against the proposal, arguing that vesting sweeping powers in a centrally appointed board would undermine decades of faculty-led decision-making.