IIT-B research students allowed to stay at hostel till convocation

MUMBAI: A week after HT reported that space crunch has led Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) administration to ask post-doctoral fellows and research

MUMBAI: A week after HT reported that space crunch has led Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) administration to ask post-doctoral fellows and research associates to vacate the hostels for freshers, they have been allowed to stay till their convocation, which will be held on August 13.

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On July 27, HT reported that a letter by the dean of student affairs in the institute directed the fellows to vacate their hostel rooms immediately. “Though there is no official word from the management, senior staff members have told us that we have time till mid-August to clear our rooms. But that also leaves us with no option but to find accommodation elsewhere,” said one of the students. The fellows still had six more months left in the hostel if they wouldn’t have been asked to leave.

But the dean of student affairs, Soumyo Mukherji, refused to confirm the extension. “These are students who have spent more than enough time on campus and we are now encouraging them to move out and find jobs. Henceforth, this will be the rule applicable to all students who overstay in the institute. No one can stay here indefinitely,” said Mukherji.

The letter Mukherji had sent last week said hostel rooms are currently accommodating students double their capacity and if students don’t vacate rooms, there will be no space to house the new entrants. “Let us reign in the number of students we admit (or at least commit hostel accommodation to),” the letter read.

Meanwhile, a few students have already started hunting for accommodation outside the campus. “While house rents around the campus are really steep, the cheaper ones are located very far. We still have some work left in the institute before we get our PhDs, but looks like we have no choice anymore,” said a research associate.