The newly appointed director IIT Roorkee , Prof Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, has been named as the new director of Shimla-based Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS). Prof Chaturvedi replaced Dr. Chetan Singh, whose tenure ended last year on December 31, 2016. Chaturvedi will hold the charge till any further orders come.
Earlier the charge of IIAS director was given to an engineer serving in a reputed professional institute outside the state. This year it is quite contrasting to the earlier practice.
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Sources from the HRD ministry said that Prakash Javadekar had adopted a very cautious approach in giving the charge of the institute. The ministry had been working on modalities of selecting a regular director for the institute
It was also come to known that at least two incumbent VCs in the state universities, as well as a senior professor of Himachal Pradesh University, had consistently lobbied for the post.
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Prof Chaturvedi did his Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur in electrical engineering in the year 1995. He has wide experiences of working in the department of engineering of Banaras Hindu University. Later on, he joined the faculty of electronics and computer engineering department at IIT Roorkee. After that, Prof Chaturvedi joined IIT Kanpur and served as the head of electrical engineering during 2009-2010 and was the director since 2014.
It is to be noted that Prof Chaturvedi, was appointed as the director of IIT Roorkee last month, and he took charge of the institute in last week only.