Eight New IITs Are Running Into Problems: PAC Report Sheds Light On Why It's Happening

Delayed infrastructure development, slow pace of recruitment of faculty and cost escalation are some of the major issues plaguing the Institutes of Technology (IITs).

This was pointed out by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in a report submitted to the Lok Sabha on Monday. The findings are based on a 2021 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) covering eight IITs.

bccl

Who compiled the report?

The report submitted by PAC on Monday is titled 'Setting up of new Indian Institutes of Technology'.

The Public Accounts Committee is a panel of selected members of parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, to audit the revenue and expenditure of the Government of India.

The committee examined the details of expenditure in 2022-23. The panel, headed by Congress's Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, sought replies from the Ministry of Education.

What did the report say?

The report was based on the CAG 2021 report covering eight new IITs ¡ª Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Mandi, Patna, and Ropar.

Comptroller and Auditor General of India

The CAG report highlighted the challenges faced by the IITs, such as:

• Infrastructure challenges
• There is a slow pace of faculty recruitment, not keeping pace with student intake and an inadequate faculty-to-student ratio
• Less enrolment against available seats
• Lack of enough representation of reserved categories in student enrolment
• Delays in construction of permanent campuses and providing planned facilities to the students, up to 56 months in Hyderabad, 41 months in Mandi, 39 months in Ropar, 37 months in Gandhinagar and 37 months in Indore

Why the delay in completion of IIT projects?

IIT Bhubaneswar

According to the report, the reasons given by the institutes for delay in project completion are:

• Time taken for "finalisation of designs, obtaining regulatory clearances, statutory approval, shortage of labour, remoteness of area, etc."
• Constraints in water and electricity supply

The committee stated that the Ministry of Education (MoE) needs to address these issues in consultation with the State Government concerned.

The MoE accepted the delays, stating in the report: "It is accepted that there has been delay in execution/completion of the project. The Ministry has been impressing upon all IITs to strictly follow the Contracts, monitor the progress of projects and implement the penalty clauses, wherever necessary."

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