Assistant prof writes to Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister on alleged caste discrimination at IIT Madras

Former IIT Madras (IITM) assistant professor Vipin Veetil has written a letter to Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi seeking his intervention in the caste discrimination issue raised by him at the institute. Veetil had resigned alleging caste discrimination in July 2021. 

As per a report published in edexlive, in the letter, Veetil pointed out that the IITM Senate had on August 25 appointed VR Muraleedharan as its nominee and incidentally, Veetil had named Muraleedharan in his complaint to the National Commission of Backward Castes (NCOBC) earlier in August. 
He wrote, “He is one of the primary accused in my complaint. The Senate representatives on the IIT Board oversee the hiring of new faculty and the promotion of existing assistant and associate professors. Muraleedharan’s inclusion in the board is likely to interfere with the ongoing investigation which will naturally involve the IIT grievance committee or the NCOBC interviewing various members of the faculty.” 

He has also asked the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister to ask the representatives of the state government in the Board of Governors of IIT Madras to veto the elevation of Muraleedharan to the board. A few days ago, Veetil had written to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, demanding that Jyotirmaya Tripati, Head of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of IITM, step down from his post for a fair investigation into the case.  

According to his complaint, Jyotirmaya Tripati, who he has accused of caste discrimination, is allegedly liaising between the investigating committee and the faculty members of the department. Pointing out that it is odd for an accused to facilitate the probe, Veetil stated that he had sent two letters to the institute asking Tripati to temporarily step down from his position while the investigation is in process, but the IITM Director did not respond.  

Read more:

• “Caste discrimination”: IIT Madras refutes allegations, probe panel to submit report shortly