Kolkata: Amartya Kumar Dutta, a faculty member at ISI since 1996, became a full-time director of the institute on Wednesday. Dutta, professor (HAG) of mathematics at ISI, will serve as the director for five years or till his superannuation.
After Sanghamitra Bandyoapdhyay's term expired in Sept, Ayanendranath Basu served as the officiating director.
While Dutta's appointment was welcomed by all faculty members and staff members, the appointment process raised questions. ISI bye-laws mandate that the Council should appoint a director on the the recommendation of the Selection Committee, comprising the Council chairman and two members.
After the candidate is nominated, the Council as well as the Selection Committee meet physically or in a hybrid mode for consultation. Serving a seven days' notice to members is also a practice. But in this case, the Selection Committee chairman took the opinion of the members through email due to "paucity of time". While the chairman maintained this did not have to be followed as precedent, an ISI insider pointed out there was no particular method that could stop the process of the selection and appointment through email.