IIIT Bill passed in Parliament

Parliament on Monday passed a bill enabling grant of statutory status to four Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs).

The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) Bill, 2014, which got Lok Sabha nod on November 26, was passed by the Rajya Sabha by voice vote. With the passage of the Bill, students of IIIT-Allahabad, IIIT-Gwalior, IIITs-Design and Manufacturing at Jabalpur and Kancheepuram will now get their degrees.  

"The governance structure of these institutes will be like that of the IITs and NITs which were based on the Central Universities Act as passed by Parliament," Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani told the Upper House, assuring that the government will make all efforts to attract the best faculty to these four institutes.

The Minister also clarified that these four institutes will be “autonomous” and the role of the University Grants Commission will be confined to notifying the nomenclature of the courses being offered.

The Minister said students of IIIT-Kancheepuram were waiting for their degrees since 2008 due to non-passage of the Bill. 

Replying to a debate on the Bill, the Minister sought to allay apprehensions of “saffronisation” of education. Downplaying her recent meetings with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologues and organisations linked to the Sangh, she assured that every decision taken by her Ministry will be in accordance with the “spirit of the Constitution”.