Attendees:

Arnab Rai Chaudhuri, V. Venkataraman, T. Shankar, Sriram Ramaswamy, A. Suyumbu, Kumaran, Vasant Natarajan, Abinandanan, Giridhar, Prabhu Nott, Diptiman Sen

A letter to the director was drafted by Arnab and circulated among the members. The letter raised the following points: (a) Inadequate housing on campus (b) Need for footpaths on major roads (c) Need to raise the amount sanctioned for international conference travel from the current 1 lakh to 1.5 lakhs. Some members pointed out that while housing continued to be the major concern of younger faculty, many senior faculty are concerned about the implementation of the Professor of Eminence scale in the institute. It was felt that this issue can also be raised with the director. Some input about its implementation in other institutions in the country, particularly the IITs, would be useful. It was also pointed out that the travel money for international conferences was sanctioned by MHRD and therefore the institute should augment that amount from its own funds.

The next GBM was decided to be held on Feb 13th (Friday). The elections for the EC positions falling vacant will be held on the same day. The election notice informing the members about the nomination dates etc will be circulated by the secretary in the next few days.

A letter has been drafted by Debasis and Kumaran to be circulated among the institute faculty for their opinion. It was decided to take appropriate action after the meeting with Director and depending on his response. After some discussion members felt that it would be appropriate to bring this matter before the Court since the Joint Faculty and Senate meetings discuss only academic issues.