Five more IIITs to receive Institute of National Importance status

The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved to confer five of the Indian Institute of Information Technology with the Institute of National Importance status. The IIIT’s which will be given the Institute of National Importance status include the Indian Institute of Information Technology Surat Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala, and Raichur. These institutions will now be able to use the Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) or the Master of Technology (M.Tech) or the Ph.D degree.

The Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT’s) Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was approved by the cabinet headed by the Prime Minister, which will declare the remaining IIIT’s along with the existing 15 IIIT’s as Institute of National Importance with the power to award degrees.

According to an official statement released, it will also entitle them to use the B.Tech, M.Tech  or Ph.D degrees as issued by the university or institution of National Importance. The statement also added that it will also enable the institutions to attract students to develop a strong research base in the country in the field of Information Technology.

Along with approving the status to be conferred on the institutions, the cabinet has also approved ex-post facto to 21 posts of directors one in each of the 20 IIIT’s and one in the IIITDM Kurnool (IIIT-CFTI) along with ex-post facto to 21 posts of registrars one in each of the 20 IIIT’s and one in IITDM Kurnool (IIT-CFTI)

The statement released also added that the objective behind approving the status for the IIIT’s is for the formalization of the IIIT’s at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur and these IIIT’s are presently functioning as societies which are registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. These institutions will now be covered under the IIIT Act 2019 which is similar to the other 15 IIIT’s established under the scheme in the PPP Mode.

The statement also pointed out that IIIT DM Kurnool has been established according to the IIT Act, 2014 and is functioning with the other 4 IIIT’s including IIT Allahabad, IITM Gwalior, IITDM Jabalpur, and IITDM Kancheepuram. The post of the Director and Registrar in these IIIT’s exist and the present proposal which merely formalizes them without any of the additional financial outgo.

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