The Rajya Sabha passed the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2011 on Monday, to the immense relief to students and faculty of IIT-Hyderabad. The Bill gives IIT-Hyderabad the power to award degree certificates to its students; thus far it could only award ‘provisional certificates’.
With the Bill pending in the Rajya Sabha, the IIT-H was unable to issue certificates to 30 M.Tech students who finished their course last year, as reported in these columns on March 2. The Bill, already passed by the Lok Sabha, accords ‘IIT status’ to IIT-Hyderabad al-ong with five IITs establi-shed in 2008, and two more that were added to the list in 2010. The Bill now covers the IITs at Bhubaneshwar, Gandhinagar, Indore, Jodh-pur, Mandi, Patna and Ropar, apart from IIT-H.
“I am extremely happy to know that the Bill has been passed. It will be sent to the President for formal approval. Our students and faculty members are delighted to know this. There is no need to issue provisional certificates for our students now. We can award degrees on par with the old IITs,” remarked Mr U.B. Desai, director, IIT-H. Mr Desai said the institute plans to hold its first convocation on a grand scale in August to award degrees to B.Tech and M.Tech students.
The Rajya Sabha also passed the National Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2010, which declares certain institutions of technology as institutions of national importance and adds five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (established in Kolkata, Pune, Mohali, Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram) as institutions of national importance.