National Institute of Technology

NAINITAL: Uttarakhand high court ( HC ) on Friday while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) regarding shifting of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) from Srinagar in Pauri Garhwal to Jaipur , termed it as “a loss to Uttarakhand since the NIT was shifted to another state.” The judges were visibly angry when the state government counsel had nothing much to say about the steps being taken to being back the campus to Uttarakhand.

Abhijay Negi, the advocate representing the petitioner, told TOI, “We informed the honourable court that in their written responses, the state government, central government and NIT administration are only blaming each other for the lack of permanent campus for NIT and none of them have given any idea as to when can we expect a permanent campus.”

NIT alumnus Jasveer Singh had filed a PIL in November last year, requesting an interim campus for the institute, besides asking the court to order the state government to bear the cost of treatment of the student who met with an accident in October while crossing the road to reach the campus. The incident had triggered protests by the students regarding the tardy facilities on campus which eventually led to the institute’s campus being shifted to Jaipur.

The petitioner told the court in his petition that the state of the temporary campus of NIT Uttarakhand was in shambles and no effective steps had been taken to establish a permanent campus for the premier institute.

“The permanent campus of NIT Uttarakhand has been caught between political battles and arbitrary decision making, directly impacting the very future of over nine hundred students that are currently associated with NIT Uttarakhand,” the petition said.

The HC had pulled up the government earlier as well during the hearing of the petition. On February 12, the HC had remarked that “neither the state government nor the central government seemed to care about retaining an institution of national importance in the state.”

