Govt forms panel to end film institute impasse

With the face-off between the students of the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India and the Centre escalating, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has formed a three-member panel to take stock of the situation at the institute.

The three-member committee includes SM Khan, Director-General, Registrar of Newspapers for India, Anshu Sinha, Director-Films, and S Naganathan, Under Secretary- Films, a senior official said. The team is expected to reach Pune on Thursday.

The students have been protesting for more than two months against the appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as the Chairman of the institute. The Tuesday midnight crackdown by the police, in Pune, has evinced reactions from the political as well as the film fraternity.

The Government has been asking the protesting students to go back to the classes and that it will look into the issues to solve them in a positive manner. It has also been reiterating its commitment to make it one of the Centres of Excellence. In July, officials had said that they wanted the governing council to consist of people who can commit their time to the institute.

Pointing to the “systemic problems”, the government said that the Institute has been witnessing repeated agitations and strikes on any attempt to introduce administrative and academic restructuring as well issues like non-completion of courses according to the academic council. The officials said that the institute is well within its rights to assess the project of the 2008 batch on an as-is-where-is basis according to the norms and declare the results and those students need to leave the campus. Various attempts for academic reforms have been thwarted in the past.

The institute has also been a financial liability for the government, officials said. The government has increased its funding to the institutions from ₹14.44 crore in 2010-11 to ₹20.44 crore in 2014-15 under Non-Plan head. In addition, ₹80 crore has been allocated under the 12{+t}{+h} Plan for infrastructure development.

At the same time, the Ministry officials have, in the past, pointed out that the extent of recovery through fees/subscription/hostel/rents etc compared to the expenditure has gradually decreased.

The whole controversy has also taken a political turn. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed shock and said that the government’s wrong decision is destroying the reputed institute. “My offer to FTII student — Delhi government can provide you temporary space in Delhi to run your classes till central government agrees. If central government does not agree, we’ll convert this place into full-fledged institute and student can continue studying here,” he tweeted.

A PTI report adds: A local court on Wednesday granted bail to all the five students of the institute who were arrested for “gheraoing” and alleged illegal confinement of director Prashant Pathrabe on Monday.

Magistrate Narendra Joshi rejected the prosecution’s plea for police custody of the students and granted them bail for a surety sum of ₹3,000 each.

Defence lawyers Shrikant Shivade and Aseem Sarode refuted the prosecution’s charge that the students had indulged in violent behaviour during the sit-in “gherao” of the director.

The purpose was only to discuss the assessment issues of the 2008 batch, and the students were not “thugs”, the defence lawyers said.

In a midnight swoop on Tuesday, the police had arrested the five students charging them with rioting and other offences in connection with the gheraoing of Pathrabe.

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