Partha Pratim took charge as the Director of IIT, Kharagpur, on Saturday afternoon.
Chakrabarti took over his duties as the director hours after 59th Annual Convocation ceremony at the IIT, where previously officiating director Prof. Sankar Kumar Som had given away the degree certificates.
Shiv Nadar, Chairman Board of Governors, announced Prof. Chakrabarti’s appointment at convocation ceremony to a standing ovation from the graduates, parents, alumni and faculty members. Earlier, the Central Vigilance Commission had cleared the professor in the Coal-net scam.
In a surreptitious move, Chakrabarti received his appointment letter from the Ministry of Human Resource and Development around 9.30 p.m. on Friday. Later, the appointment was approved by the President of India and the IIT Kharagpur’s Chairman Board of Governors (BoG).
Arjun Malhotra, chairman of the ‘PPC for Director’ campaign, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, said: “We are delighted that the CVC has given clearance to Prof. Chakrabarti and HRD Minister, President of India and the Chairman BoG have approved his appointment. We can finally put the protests behind and focus on Vision 20-20 - a bold initiative to be a top 20 institute in the world in the next 20 years.”
The IIT received the appointment letter hours before the annual convocation ceremony where the alumni, and faculty members had decided to stage a silent protest demanding Chakrabarti’s reinstatement as director. The protestors had submitted petitions to the President and the Prime Minister to look into the matter.
