The Union Cabinet on February 5, 2020 gave its approval to confer the status of Institution of National Importance to five Indian Institutes of Information Technology, IIITs.
Union Cabinet on February 5, 2020 approved introduction of the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
- The bill will declare the remaining five IIITs along with the existing 15 IIITs in PPP mode as Institutions of National Importance with powers to award degrees. This will entitle them to use the nomenclature of Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) or Master of Technology (M.Tech) or Ph.D degree as issued by a University or Institution of National Importance.
- It will also enable the Institutes to attract enough students required to develop a strong research base in the country in the field of information technology.
- The Five IIITs in PPP mode at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur will now be able to use the nomenclature of Bachelor of Technology, BTech or Master of Technology or PhD degree.
Background
- These IIITs are already functioning as Societies registered under Societies Registration Act of 1860. They will now be covered under the IIIT (PPP) Act, 2017, similar to the other 15 IIITs established under the scheme in PPP mode.
- Further, IIITDM Kurnool has been established as per the IIIT Act, 2014 and is functioning with the other 4 IIITs namely IIIT Allahabad, IIITM Gwalior, IIITDM Jabalpur, IIITDM Kancheepuram.
- The post of Director and Registrar in these IIITs are already existing and the present proposal merely formalizes them without any additional financial outgo.
