Rajeev Kumar (born 12 March 1959) is an Indian computer scientist, activist and former professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is known for his activism and his legal fight against IITs where he advocated for reforms and transparency in the admission process of IITs.quote: Kumar, dubbed by the Supreme Court of India as an “unsung hero” responsible for much of the transparency introduced in the IIT entrance examination in recent years
Education Rajeev Kumar was born on 12 March 1959 in India he completed his Bsc degree in physics, maths and chemistry from Rohilkhand University and his MSc in Physics from University of Allahabad where he secured third rank in the university. He then went on to complete his M.Tech in computer science from IIT Roorkee and ranked first in the institute. After which he completed his PhD in computer engineering from University of Sheffield in UK.
Highlighting irregularities in IITs admission process He is known for his fight against IITs to amend the eligibility criteria of admission through the JEE exams. In 2010, after a "protracted legal struggle"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. over the years with several tiers of the IIT administration, the Delhi High Court ordered the IITs to reveal such information.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. Since 2012, every candidate gets a carbon copy of their paper, and the various cutoffs are announced. Due to his activism he was suspended and forcefully retired by IIT Kharagpur in 2014 until he was reinstated in 2017 by former President Pranab Mukherjee. Suspension for whistleblowing In 2011, Kumar was suspended for damaging the reputation of IIT Kharagpur by reporting the extensive cheating going on in the institute and for exposing a scam in the purchase of laptops. The institute had also illegally accessed Kumar's phone records. This led to Supreme Court lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan requesting the MHRD Minister Kapil Sibal to ensure that whistleblowers like Rajeev are not harassed. Despite letters from the MHRD and the Central Vigilance Commission in 2013, IIT Kharagpur did not revoke his suspension.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. 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."
Finally, the suspension was lifted in May 2013,
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