The General Body Meeting was held on 12.10.2001 (Friday) at 5:00 p.m. in the Choksi Hall, Indian Institute of Science. The minutes of this meeting are as recorded below:

The President, Prof. Diptiman Sen, welcomed all the members to the Meeting, and informed them about the inability of Prof. Prabhu Nott (General Secretary) and Mr. T. Shankar (Treasurer) to be present at the meeting. He read out the minutes of the previous GBM held on 7/3/2001. Since there were no comments, the minutes were approved by the members.

The statement of accounts was then taken up for discussion; since there were no comments on the accounts, they were approved by the members.

In his presidential address, Prof. Sen began with a brief outline of the structure of the Executive Committee of the FA, and alerted the members about the next set of elections for filling up 8 positions being vacated by those EC members who are currently in the second year of their term. He then pointed out that the EC has had two meetings so far this year. Further, the office-bearers have met the Director twice and the Registrar once. Prof. Sen then presented a broad overview of the problems, which in the FA's view, pose a major hurdle to the efficient working of the members. In particular, he dwelt on the need for more (and better quality) housing on campus, the problems arising out of changing the health schemes often, the poor quality of the telephone system and the unreliable internet infrastructure in the Institute.

In addition to the above, the office-bearers have been pursuing other important issues with the Institute authorities; these include a good quality creche, a foot bridge connecting the main campus to the KV campus, and lights at the New BEL Road outside our Institute gate. In addition, the Institute is yet to issue guidelines for selecting Professors of Eminence. While on the issue of housing, the President pointed out that the FA members should seriously consider a suitable time frame (from the time of allotment of a house) within which a member should be asked to vacate his/her current house. This will help reduce the number of houses which lie vacant at any given point in time.

The President also expressed serious concern over the alarming rate at which some departments in the Institute have been losing faculty.

During the discussion following the President's address, the following issues were raised by the members:

(a) A member suggested that, in addition to lights outside the Institute gate on New BEL Road, we need another set of lights outside the gate near the Security Office.

(b) Another member asked if we could find out the Grievance Committee's decision about a case referred to it. The President said that the FA will ask the Grievance Committee if it has conveyed its decision directly to the member concerned.

(c) The President informed the members that a letter highlighting the important issues which the Administration needs to address has been drafted with the help of many colleagues through informal interactions. The issues include housing, telephone system, internet connectivity, library, accountability and transparency in the administration, issues concerning new faculty, flexibility in getting things fixed without going through the Institute's Estate Office, creche, toilets in central buildings, and increased traffic on campus.

(d) One of the suggestions was to get the Joint Faculty Meeting of the Institute to address these issues. However, many members were concerned that this list includes many issues which are not academic in nature. Thus, it was decided that the FA will ask the Director for an Open House meeting, in which all these problems can be raised and addressed. In addition to the Director, the Open House should include all the key administrative personnel.

It was further suggested that we should insist that the Open House meeting should become a regular feature (it could be held, say, twice a year).

The President assured the members that he will pursue this issue, and get the first Open House organized at the earliest. Members also suggested that the Open House meeting should be minuted and necessary follow-up action should be taken after such a meeting. Further, it was decided that we should bring up the academic issues in the above list (namely, the telephone system, internet connectivity and library) either in the Joint Faculty Meeting or in the Senate Meeting, whichever is earlier.