IIT Kharagpur has resolved to close the procedure regarding show-cause notices and to initiate disciplinary measures against four office-bearers of the teachers’ association that were taken last year during the administration of V.K. Tewari, the previous director.

An IIT official said the institute’s board of governors — the highest decision-making body of the institute — had decided in its last meeting held on September 23 to close the procedure.

The four office-bearers were issued show-cause notices on November 12 last
year over the association’s letter to the ministry on September 20, over alleged lapses during the tenure of the former director.

The board of governors decided not to proceed with the show cause as part of its initiative to improve the strained relationship between the teachers and the IIT administration, an IIT official said. “The board has unanimously decided not to pursue the showcause and disciplinary proceedings. The board will issue a notice and draft the texts to be used in the notice,” said IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty.

A notification dated October 17 says: “The board of governors at its meeting held on 23.09.2025 took note of the developments on the issue of unsubstantiated allegations made by the IIT Kharagpur Teachers’ Association concerning Rintu Banerjee (the deputy director). The board expressed their appreciation for the contribution of Rintu Banerjee to the institute and directed that a report be sent to the ministry of education, for a formal closure of this issue.”

The association in its letter September 20 letter had stated among other things: “...we are stunned to see the rise of a particular person, belonging to the same department as the incumbent director, from professor position to the head of the department, member of board of governors, dean, SRIC and now the deputy director of the Institute. This is now the talk of the town as how favouritism has flourished in the tenure of the current director”.

An IIT Kharagpur official said that in a board meeting in July, the director convinced the board about dropping the procedure against the office-bearers.

“In the September 23 meeting, the board endorsed the move and decided to close the proceedings,” the official said.

The board had earlier decided to drop the showcause proceedings against 86 teachers who had shown solidarity with the four office-bearers.

Now the board has decided to close the showcause proceedings against the office bearers of the association as well, said an IIT official.

The IIT Kharagpur authorities initiated “disciplinary proceedings” against the four officer-bearers of the teachers’ association because they did not respond to the show-cause notice, which asked them to substantiate the allegations the group had mentioned in a letter to the Union education ministry.

The teachers in their September 20 letter accused the former director of “nepotism”, “arbitrary faculty recruitment”, “failure in starting multispeciality hospital and external campus”, and “vitiating the harmony between campus and neighbourhood community” by closing the Prembazar gate.

“The relation between the IIT Kharagpur teachers and the administration became so strained that the teachers held marches in and around the campus to protest the actions of the then director. Such a protest was unheard of in the IIT Kharagpur. The present director, who assumed charges in mid-June, is taking steps to reach out to the teachers,” said an IIT official.

The multi-speciality hospital has been made functional with the performance of surgery last month.

The Prembazar gate, which connects the campus with Hizli, was opened last month for two-wheelers.

“If the director addresses concerns flagged by the teachers, the relationship is bound to improve,’ said a member of the teachers’ association.