Minutes of the General Body meeting of the Faculty Association held on

The General Secretary Dr. Abinandanan welcomed the gathering.

The General Secretary announced the retiring members of the faculty, and 
requested their collegues to say a few words on their behalf.

Mrs. Choodamani spake a few words about Mr. N. M. Malwad, Librarian, and
recounted his leadership role in maintaining the library as the premier
library of science and technology in the country. She wished him well 
in his retired life, and said that his services will be sorely missed.

Mr. Sarat Ahuja recalled the services of Mr. Narasimhamurthy in the
Organic Chemistry department, and the way in which he had adapted
to changing circumstances in the department. He recalled some
interesting experiences he had as Mr. Narasimhamurthy's collegue.

The Vice - President, Prof. Swami Manohar, who was officiating
in the absence of the President Prof. Surolia, felicitated the
retiring members.

Mr. Malwad then spoke about his tenure as librarian at the institute. 
He regretted that people are remembered more for what they do not
achieve, rather than for what they achieve, and said that the 
service of an individual should be judged based on the circumstances
in which they work. He expressed satisfaction with the support 
he had received from his collegues in the library and the faculty
during his tenure as librarian.

The minutes of the previous GBM was presented by the General 
Secretary. The confirmation of the minutes was proposed by Dr.
Manohar and seconded by Dr. Kumaran.

In his presidential remards, Prof. Manohar made the following
comments. He said that the number of attendees at the general
body meetings was steadily going down, and it is necessary
to search for newer ways of enhancing communication among the
faculty. He indicated that a home page for FA would be set up,
which would provide information such as the rules and regulations,
minutes of various meetings, etc. This would also be useful for
collecting faculty opinion on various issues, so that a 
quantitative representation could be made to the institute
administration on matters concerning the faculty.

The statement of accounts was presented by Mr. Shankar, the 
Treasurer, and this was approved.

During the discussion, some of the issues raised were

1. The pay scales implemented at the IITs has not yet been 
implemented at IISc, especially for assistant professors and
senior scientific officers. The General Secretary reported
that a representation had already been made to the Anomalies
Committee in this regard, and they had requested the FA to
make a presentation at their meeting.

2. The retirement age for Technical Officers had not been raised
to 62, even though there was an MHRD order to raise the 
retirement age.

3. Housing for scientific and technical officers had not been 
provided as per the central government norms.

4. While new apartments were being constructed, there was not
sufficient thought given to the availability of parking space.
The problem with parking is acute even for the older quarters,
since adequate planning is not done.

5. There is an urgent need to provide an STD booth near the
E quarters, since even the ration shop in the shopping complex
is provided with a telephone paid by the institute.

6. There was a resolution adopted that the FA function for retiring 
members should be combined with the felicitation held by Faculty Club,
since these two had similar objectives.