IIT Guwahati Director TG Sitharam has been appointed chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
According to a government notification dated November 17, “All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Act, 1987, the Central Government hereby appoints, Prof TG Sitharam, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, as Chairman, AICTE in Level-l7 of the pay Matrix, on deputation basis, for three years we. f. the date of assumption of charge, or till attaining the age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is earliest.”
Sitharam will take over from UGC chairman Jagadesh Kumar, who was holding interim charge of the AICTE chairman post after Anil Sahasrabuddhe was released from his duties on September 1, 2021, upon turning 65 years old.
His appointment comes at a time when the Ministry of Education is putting the final touches to a Bill that intends to merge the AICTE and the University Grants Commission into a super regulator called the Higher Education Commission of India.
Before he joined as Director of IIT Guwahati, he was a professor in the department of civil engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Earlier, he was a chair professor in the area of Energy and Mechanical Sciences at IISc. His research interests include rock mechanics and rock engineering, geotechnical earthquake engineering, and earth dams and tailing ponds.
Professor Sitharam is a member of the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. He has been serving as the IIT Guwahati Director and a Senior Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and served IISc for more than 27 years.