Taking Up Foreign Admissions-Barred For IIT-Kanpur

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has barred IIT Kanpur (Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur) from accepting foreign donations, citing the premier institute's laid-back attitude in submitting documents supporting the usage of foreign funds.

The sources say that the institute has been barred under the provisions of Foreign Contribution Registration Act (FCRA) 2010 with immediate effect. The prime objective of the act is to "regulate the acceptance and utilization of foreign contribution and foreign hospitality by persons and associations working in the important areas of national life".

While IIT Kanpur authorities refused to react to the development "at this point", MHA has officially put the institute's name in the list of organizations whose FCRA registration has been cancelled. In the list of 2011-12, which carries 4, 139 such institutions, 72 are from Uttar Pradesh.

An official said "IIT Kanpur has always been very lethargic in supporting the usage of these donations in their annual receipts and hence we were forced to act in such a manner. We are aware about the matter. We are positive that this decision would not, in any way hamper our growth", a faculty member said, adding that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audits the financial transactions of IIT-K.

Another IIT Kanpur professor said that last year the institute was exempted from such requirements as pressed by the government on the ground that the CAG was a "Competent Authority" thus foreign funding could not be stopped.

As IIT-Kanpur is one of the foremost Institutes in the country for higher education, received foreign funding amount for about Rs.6 crore in the previous financial year. In the academic year 2010-11, the institute's planning and resource generation department received a donation of Rs.4.08 crore from 772 donors of which 501 were domestic donors while 271 donors were from Foreign countries, said an official.

However, many in IIT-Kanpur see the MHA decision as yet another "Deliberate Attempt" to push the premier institute into "Submission before the central government's Authority". Earlier, they appealed it was the move to hold common entrance test (IIT-Single Entrance Test).