HRD Minister Smriti Irani seems to have landed in a fresh controversy.
Four Rajya Sabha MPs have reportedly expressed unhappiness with Irani's actions as HRD Minister. The MPs - KC Tyagi of Samajwadi Party, D Raja of CPI, Rajiv Shukla of Congress and DP Tripathi of NCP - have alleged that Irani has been interfering with the functioning of premier universities in the country. Consequently, the MPs want President Pranab Mukherjee to step in.
The HRD Ministry under Irani has been running into several controversies of late. Recently, nuclear scientist and former chairman of Board of Directors of IIT Bombay, Anil Kakodkar spoke out against beaureucratic interference in the institution. Kakodkar had resigned following differences with the HRD Ministry over the selection of some IIT directors, but relented after Irani persuaded him over the phone.
Earlier, IIT Delhi director R Shevgaonkar had resigned over sharp differences between him and the HRD Ministry on certain issues. However, his resignation has not been accepted yet.
