In October 2015, IIT Indore vacated its temporary campus set
up at the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Indore and shifted to
another temporary campus at PACL, Mhow. As per IITI, all pending dues related
to their activities at IET have been paid up, a fact which IET authorities are
contesting.
IET, a state engineering college under the Devi Ahilya Vishwa
Vidyalaya (DAVV), was the temporary academic campus for IITI from its inception
in 2009 till October 2015. As per the measurements carried out by the Rent Controlling
Authority (RCA), Indore city, in 2009, an area admeasuring 5,200 sq. m. was
allotted to IITI. An equivalent amount of rent, fixed by the RCA, was mutually agreed
upon by both IET & IITI.
The Director of IET, Dr Sanjiv Tokekar, told PaGaLGuY, “In
April 2013, IITI authorities rechecked the area allotted to them, and came up
with a measurement of around 4,800 sq. m. which meant that the original
agreement mentioned an area of about 400 sq. m. in excess. Since then, IITI had
been paying rent based on the new measurements only, until they moved out in
October 2015.”
When PaGaLGuY contacted Prof. Nirmala Menon, IIT Indore’s
Public Relations Officer, she said, “IIT Indore has completed all its commitments
and resolved all pending matters. We have sent replies to all of IET’s queries.
There are no pending dues on IITI’s end regarding the campus it maintained at
IET.”
IITI’s temporary residential campus is at the Silver Springs
Township on the outskirts of Indore city. While the shift to the permanent
campus at Simrol, about 25 km away from Indore, was to happen in 2012, it is
still not fully ready to operate.
IET had rented out two buildings to IITI in 2009. One of the
two was vacated in August 2014, while the other was handed back in October
2015. Dr Tokekar said, “The building that was returned in August 2014 was in a
bad state, and we could not use it for our operations too. Only in November
2015 were both buildings renovated by them.”
He continued, “The original measurements had been done by the
RCA, a government authority. We contacted the IITI authorities after their measurement
process, so that the discrepancies could be cleared by the RCA only. Our Executive
Body did not interfere earlier as it was a government matter.”
IET has since complained regarding the shortfall to DAVV,
Indore and to the State Government of Madhya Pradesh. It is awaiting the
response from both parties before deciding on further action.