Cabinet approves 6 new IITs; ISM to be upgraded to IIT status

The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved setting up of six new IITs at Tirupati, Palakkad, Dharwar, Bhilai, Goa and Jammu and upgradation of Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, into an IIT.

The cabinet also gave its ex post facto approval to amend The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 for incorporation of new IITs at Tirupati (AP), Palakkad (Kerala), Dharwar (Karnataka), Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Goa, Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) and conversion of Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad to an IIT under the law. “The approval will bring six new Indian Institutes of Technology within the ambit of The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961and declaring them as the institutions of national importance,“ the government said.

The amendment will also help convert ISM, Dhanbad into an IIT by bringing it into the ambit of the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961.

The Cabinet approved introduction of the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2016 for inclusion of NIT, Andhra Pradesh in its first schedule, another statement said.

(ToI)