Attendees:

Arnab Rai Chaudhuri, B. Ananthanarayan, V. Venkataraman, J. Haritsa, T. Shankar, Debasis Sengupta, Sriram Ramaswamy, G. Narayana Naik, A. Suyumbu, N. Srinivasan

A letter from the Registrar dated 12th August specifying penalties for failure to move into quarters allotted under seniority quota was received by the secretary. The contents were circulated among the EC members for information.

The nominations for the FA awards to deserving administrative staff will be called in February.

There is no progress on building new houses inside the institute. The EC requested the President to seek an appointment with the Director to discuss this matter and get a progress update. In case the Director does not make any commitment, the EC proposed that a resolution be passed in the GBM. A sub-committee under Prof. Debasis Sengupta was formed to draft this resolution.

Prof. Srinivasan brought to the attention of the EC the problem of start-up funds. The institute, especially in biological sciences, fares poorly compared to other institutions in the country with regard to seed money given to new faculty. Prof. Sriram Ramaswamy added that seed money is crucial to attract new faculty. Prof. Ananth held the view that FA should not comment on the quantum of funding. A letter can be sent to the Director urging him to enhance the amount of seed money for new faculty.

The issue of attracting foreign students and faculty to the institute was discussed. However most EC members felt that this should be brought up in the Joint Faculty meeting since it was an academic matter affecting the entire faculty.