The government has appointed chairpersons to nine IITs, including IIT Delhi where former solicitor-general (SG) Harish Salve has taken charge.
The ministry of education issued orders last month after the approval of the Visitor — the President.
The other newly appointed chairpersons are T.V. Narendran, chief executive officer and managing director of Tata Steel, at IIT Kharagpur; K. Sivan, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, at IIT Indore; A.S. Kiran Kumar, former Isro chairman, at IIT Jodhpur; V. Mohan Reddy, founder and executive chairman of Cyient Ltd, at IIT Hyderabad; Sanjiv Puri, chairman and MD of ITC Ltd, at IIT Gandhinagar; Adil
Siraj Zainulbhai, chairman of the Capacity Building Commission, at IIT Ropar; Sajjan Jindal, chairman and MD of the JSW Group, at IIT Tirupati; and Lt Gen. (Retd) Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, at IIT Mandi.
According to the Institutes of Technology Act, the chairpersons are nominated by the Visitor. The director of the institute is the principal academic and executive officer, while the chairperson holds an honorary position with the responsibility of presiding over the meetings of the board of governors (BoG) of the institute.
The BoG takes major policy decisions at the IITs. The chairperson has to ensure that the decisions taken by the BoG are implemented.
Salve was recently appointed as a member of the panel looking into the possibility of “one nation, one election”. The panel is headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind.