Rajeev Kumar is now at Jawaharlal Nehru University.[1][2][3][4][5] He is known for his fight with IITs to fix the eligibility criteria of admission through the JEE.
A "protracted legal struggle"[6] over years
with several tiers of the IIT administration, led to in 2010, the Delhi High Court ordering the IITs to reveal such information.[7][8] Since 2012, every candidate gets a carbon copy of their paper, and the various cutoffs are announced.[9]
Due to this activism he was suspended, then compulsorily retired by IIT Kharagpur in 2014; he was reinstated in 2017 by the PresidentPranab Mukherjee.[10]
Suspension for whistleblowing
In 2011, Kumar was suspended for damaging the reputation of IIT Kharagpur by reporting the massive copying that goes on in the institute, and for exposing a scam in the purchase of laptop computers.[11] The institute had also illegally accessed Kumar's phone records.[12]
This led to noted Supreme Court lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan asking the MHRD Minister Kapil Sibal to ensure that whistleblowers like Rajeev should not be harassed.[13] Despite letters from the MHRD and the Central Vigilance Commission in 2013, IIT Kharagpur did not revoke the suspension.[6][14][15][16] In July 2012, the registrar of IIT wrote to the ministry
"saying the withdrawal of suspension of Prof. Kumar and resumption of duties
would adversely affect the academic atmosphere of the institute."
[17]
Finally, the suspension was lifted in May 2013,[18]
^ ab
PNS (19 April 2013). "IIT-Kgp top rung in soup again". The Pioneer.
Records obtained by Rajeev Kumar, with whom the institute is in protracted
legal tussle, through RTI showed that (registrar IIT) wrote to BSNL on 10 January 2011 seeking details of calls, made
and received from Kumar's personal mobile, for six months.
^
IANS (8 April 2010). "Court notice to IITs on JEE". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014.
The Delhi High Court has sent notices to 15 Indian Institutes of Technology
(IITs) and the ministry of human resource development to clarify their
process of selection in the JEE.
^
Anubhuti Vishnoi (6 April 2013). "IIT Kharagpur defies CVC, faces heat". Indian Express.
The HRD ministry recently directed the IIT to revoke the suspension
of Prof Rajeev Kumar, as advised by the CVC, but it is yet to do so.