VARANASI: IIT (BHU) published a notice on Monday, October 26, 2026, constituting an Equal Opportunity Cell for its campus community in Varanasi. The cell will address inclusion and accessibility concerns and coordinate with bodies handling grievances involving disadvantaged groups. The registrar's order is dated October 23; October 26 is the publication date displayed on the institute's official news page.
The order replaces the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee with a five member cell. For students and employees on the BHU campus, the change identifies a new institutional body with responsibilities covering discrimination, exclusion and equal access. It is an administrative reorganisation with a defined membership and remit.
Who will serve on the cell
Professor Manoj Kumar Mondal of Chemical Engineering and Technology will chair the cell. Associate Professor Rosalin Sahoo of Civil Engineering and Assistant Professor Yadwinder Singh Joshan of Mechanical Engineering are members. Ram Prasad Manna, senior technical superintendent in Computer Science and Engineering, is also a member.
The Deputy Registrar responsible for Administration III will serve as member secretary. The order assigns that position by office, rather than naming an individual. Its composition therefore brings together teaching staff, a technical employee and the administration.
The registrar's four page notice provides both Hindi and English versions. Readers checking names and responsibilities can consult the English order on the third page. The institute lists the document under October 26 on its official news index.
What the new body will do
The cell's responsibilities include helping resolve concerns about discrimination, exclusion, accessibility and equal opportunity. It will also coordinate with existing committees, cells and liaison officers dealing with Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, persons with disabilities, women's grievances, reservation and related matters.
That coordination role matters because the notice describes links with existing institutional arrangements. Someone reading the order can distinguish between the new cell's broad inclusion responsibilities and the specialised subjects already assigned to other bodies. The cell is tasked with working across those arrangements.
Awareness is another part of its remit. The order asks the cell to promote knowledge of rights, entitlements and welfare measures for disadvantaged and marginalised groups. It also gives it a monitoring and coordination role concerning applicable statutory provisions, government directions and University Grants Commission guidelines on equal opportunity and inclusion.
- Publication listed: October 26, 2026.
- Order dated: October 23, 2026.
- Membership: chairperson, three members and member secretary.
- Outgoing body: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
What changes in the committee structure
The order says the previous committee, constituted through a July 2023 notice, stands dissolved with immediate effect following creation of the cell. It acknowledges the contributions of its outgoing members. The operative change is therefore both the formation of the cell and the closure of the earlier committee.
The new notice can be read alongside earlier local education coverage, including BHU's student matters coordination committee, IIT (BHU)'s civil engineering collaboration and its rural science programme at Tikary. Those are separate campus developments; the October 26 publication concerns the institute's inclusion and grievance coordination structure.
