Faculty members of the IIT here went on a mass casual leave today protesting against disparities in their salaries,a day after their colleagues in IIT-Mumbai and Rourkee held a similar kind of protest. Though the professors and lecturers of the countrys premier technology institute boycotted classes,all of them were present in the campus. As decided by the faculty association,almost all the members took a casual leave today to protest against the governments decision on the pay issues to IIT staff, Anurag Sharma,Physics Professor of the institute said. He said,however,the professors assembled at 3 pm in the campus and told the government to intervene and consider their demands. Sources said a group of IIT-D professors met HRD Minister Kapil Sibal last night,who gave a patient hearing to their demands. Sharma said response from the faculty members for the protests showed that there is resentment among professors over the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations regarding the salary structure of IIT faculty. Professors at IIT-Madras went on a mass causal leave on Friday,while their colleagues in IIT-Bombay and Rourkee boycotted classes yesterday. The protesting professors have also alleged that the Ministry has completely ignored the recommendations of the Mehra Committee which recommended hikes in pay scale of apex technical educational institutions.
