Following a series of protests by the students, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, has decided to call off a proposed increase in the hotel mess fee. On Monday, April 10, about 400 students staged protests against the increase in fees. The students alleged that IIT Delhi had increased the mess fee to Rs 40,000 from Rs 25,000 per semester. The IIT Delhi administration met with the aggrieved students and decided to form a joint committee of representatives to resolve the matter, reported Times Now.
“In the meeting, it was decided to form a joint committee of representatives of concerned students and the administration. This joint committee will work on finding ways towards reducing the mess fee,” officials stated.
This committee will also conduct a comparative study of mess fees in other metro cities. “It is important to note that messes in various hostels at IIT Delhi are run by students through their elected representatives, who also have transparent access to the mess accounts,” the officials added.
Previously, students at IIT Delhi had claimed that they were paying the salaries of all the mess workers despite the fact that the Board of Hotel Management (BHM), which looks after the hostels, was not part of the university. Students explained that while IIT-Delhi used to give a 90 per cent subsidy to the BHM, it was later reduced to zero after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had “strictly advised not to pay the mess workers’ salaries as it is not part of IIT-Delhi.”
Amid the protests, IIT Delhi decided to cap the mess fees at Rs 35,000 per semester. Students had alleged that the mess charges had doubled from Rs 20,000 per semester (five months) in 2021 to Rs 38,500 in December last year. Till June last year, the charges were Rs 25,000 per semester.
The protesting students had also asked for an alternative to the BHM to avoid any fee hikes in the future.
As per media reports, the deadline for paying the mess fee has also been extended to April 30. Furthermore, those who default in the payment will be allowed to participate in the college elections. Earlier, any student who wished to file a nomination and run in the IIT Delhi elections had to clear all before starting the process.
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