SM Khan-headed team constituted to assess situation in FTII by Union Government

The Union Government on 19 August 2015 constituted a three member team to assess the situation over the student protest in Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune.

The three-member team will be headed by the Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI) SM Khan and comprise two more I&B Ministry officials.

Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)
FTII is an autonomous institute under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile Prabhat Film Company in Pune. Since its inception in 1960, FTII has become India's premier film and television institute, with its alumni becoming technicians, actors and directors in the film and television industry.

It has been accorded the status of Institute of National Importance by the Union Government.

FTII is a member of the International Liaison Centre of Schools of Cinema and Television (CILECT), an organisation of the world's leading schools of film and television

FTII Controversy
The panel was constituted a day after five students of the institute were arrested from the FTII campus on charges of rioting and other offences after a group of striking students gheraoed FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe. He was gheraoed as a protest against irrational and unjustified assessment of their incomplete diploma projects.

The students have been on strike for the last 69 days against the appointment of BJP member and TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of the institute. The indefinite strike began on 12 June 2015.

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