भारतीय विज्ञान विक्षा एिं अनुसंधान संस्थान

मोहाली
(मानि संसाधन विकास मंत्रालय का एक स्वायत्त संस्थान, भारत सरकार के
अधीन)
सैक्टर -81, नॉलेज वसटी, पो. ओ. मनौली, एस. ए. एस. नगर (मोहाली), पंजाब -
140 306
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH MOHALI
(Estd. By Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India)
Sector – 81, Knowledge City, P.O.Manauli, S.A.S.Nagar (Mohali), Punjab-140306

Minutes of the 40th Meeting of the Senate of IISER Mohali held on 18.06.2020 at 2.30 P.M. in
the Lecture Hall 5, Lecture Hall Complex, IISER Mohali. The following Members were
present:
1. Professor A.K. Bachhawat, Member
2. Professor Arvind, Member
3. Professor J. S. Bagla, Member
4. Professor Purnananda Guptasarma, Member
5. Professor Kavita Dorai, Member
6. Professor Ramandeep Singh Johal, Member
7. Dr. Kausik Chattopadhyay, Member
8. Dr. N. G. Prasad, Member
9. Dr. S. Arulananda Babu, Member
10. Dr. Amit Kulshrestha, Member
11. Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, Member
12. Dr. Samarjit Bhattacharyya, Member
13. Dr. Anu Sabhlok, Member
14. Dr. R. Vijay Anand, Member
15. Dr. Sugumar Venkataramani, Member
16. Dr. Abhishek Chaudhuri, Member
17. Dr. Kamal Priya Singh, Member
18. Dr. KrishnenduGongopadhyay, Member
19. Dr. Ramesh Ramachandran, Member
20. Dr. Samrat Mukhopadhyay, Member
21. Dr. Parth Chauhan, Member
22. Dr. Sunil Anil Patil, Member
23. Dr. P. Visakhi, Member
24. Dr. Manjari Jain, Member

Minutes for the 40th Meeting of the Senate, 18.06.2020 at 2.30 P.M. Page 1 of 11
25. Dr. Jagdeep Singh, Secretary

The following members could not be present in the meeting. Leave of absence was granted to
these members:
1. Professor J. Gowrishankar, Chairperson
2. Professor S. Bandyopadhayay, Member
3. Professor Damodar Acharya, Member
4. Professor Kapil Hari Paranjape, Member
5. Professor Sudeshna Sinha, Member
6. Professor Sanjay Mandal, Member
7. Dr. Baerbel Sinha, Member

Item No. Agenda

The Secretary informed the Senators that due to the requirement of home
quarantine after travel, Senate Chairperson will not join the meeting. Therefore,
as provided in Clause 7(6) of the IISER Statutes, the senior-most of the Deans
present, Professor Jasjeet Singh Bagla, was asked to chair the meeting.

Senate 20.40.01 Introductory remarks by the Chairperson

The Chairperson and the Senators welcomed Dr. Jagdeep Singh as the new
Registrar and Secretary of the Senate.

The Chairperson acknowledged the contributions of Shri B. Nagarajan who

worked as the officiating Registrar of the institute for nearly six months.

The chairperson welcomed three Associate Deans: Dr. Sugumar Venkataramani

(Associate Dean Academics), Dr. Vijay Anand (Associate Dean R&D) and Dr.
Abhishek Chaudhuri (Associate Dean Students) to the Senate.

The Chairperson informed the Senate that the institute has secured 59th rank in
NIRF ranking this year. He thanked Dr. Dipanjan Chakraborty for coordinating
compilation of data and ensuring completeness of data submission.

The Chairperson also acknowledged the important role played by Library in the
collection of data for NIRF Ranking.
Senate 20.40.02 Confirmation of the Draft minutes of the 39th meeting of the Senate held on
15th May, 2020

Draft Minutes of the 39th Meeting of the Senate held on 15.05.2020 has been
circulated. Comments received from Prof. Arvind, Dr. S. A. Babu and Dr. Amit
Kulshrestha.
For confirmation please.

Minutes for the 40th Meeting of the Senate, 18.06.2020 at 2.30 P.M. Page 2 of 11
Item No. Agenda

It was decided to make note of the suggested corrections.

• The time between submission of synopsis and submission of thesis is to be
at most 45 days.
• Departments are advised to give at least a two week notice to shortlisted
candidates for Int. PhD and PhD interviews.
As per email received from Dr. A. Babu and Dr. Amit Kulshreshta some
corrections were suggested for draft minutes of 38th meeting of Senate
which have been incorporated as follows:
• In case of Ms. Bhavana Choudhary, MS16023, Dr. Sanjay Singh in place
of Dr. Angshuman R. Choudhary.
• In case of Mr. Kamble Tejaswar Kumar, MS16059, Dr. Varadharaj Ravi
Srinivasan in place of Dr. Debashish Adhikari.

For Consideration and Approval: -

Senate 20.40.03 Students fulfilling the requirements for Award of PhD degree:
1) Name of Student: Ms Priyanka Dogra
Registration No.: PH14030
Registration: August 2014
Name of Supervisor: Dr. Samrat Mukhopadhyay
Title of the Thesis: Phase Behavior of An Intrinsically Disordered Domain of A
Melanosomal Protein: Conformational Characteristics, Amyloid Formation, And
Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation
Date of Thesis Submission: March12, 2020
Thesis Examination Committee:
i) Dr. Samrat Mukhopadhyay, IISER Mohali (Supervisor)
ii)Prof. Amitabha Chattopadhyay, CSIR-CCMB (External)
iii) Prof. Pramit Chowdhury, IIT Delhi(External)
iv) Prof. Daniel Otzen, Aarhus University(External)
Based on the recommendation of thesis examination committee viva-voce was
conducted on May27, 2020
Viva-voce Committee:
i) Dr. Samrat Mukhopadhyay(Convener)
ii) Prof. Amitabha Chattopadhyay, CSIR-CCMB(External Examiner)
iii) Dr. Sabyasachi Rakshit
iv) Dr. Raj Kumar Roy
The viva-voce committee has recommended that the PhD degree be awarded.

2) Name of Student: Ms Swati Tanwar

Registration No.: PH14212
Registration: August 2014
Name of Supervisor: Dr. Tapasi Sen

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Item No. Agenda

Title of the Thesis: DNA origami directed self- assembled hybrid nanoantennas
for single molecule spectroscopic applications
Date of Thesis Submission: January6, 2020
Thesis Examination Committee:
i) Dr. Tapasi Sen, INST Mohali (Supervisor)
ii) Prof. Anindya Datta, IIT Bombay(External)
iii) Prof. Arun Chattopadhyay, IIT Guwahati(External)
Based on the recommendation of thesis examination committee viva-voce was
conducted on June01, 2020
Viva-voce Committee:
i) Dr. Tapasi Sen(Convener)
ii) Prof. Arun Chattopadhyay, IIT Guwahati(External Examiner)
iii) Dr. Sangita Roy, INST
iv) Dr. Kamalakannan Kailasam, INST
The viva-voce committee has recommended that the PhD degree be awarded.

3) Name of Student: Mr. Rajinder Kumar

Registration No.: PH14214
Registration: August 2014
Name of Supervisors: Dr. Vivek Bagchi and Dr. Ehesan Ali
Title of the Thesis: Nano-structured Materials Synthesized from Transition Metal
Carbides / Nitrides for Electrocatalytic Applications
Date of Thesis Submission: March12, 2020
Thesis Examination Committee:
i) Dr. Vivek Bagchi and Dr. Ehesan Ali, INST Mohali (Supervisors)
ii) Prof. S K Mehta, Panjab University(External)
iii) Prof. Aditi Haldar, IIT Mandi(External)
iv) Prof. Martin Köckerling, Institut für Chemie Universität Rostock
Based on the recommendation of thesis examination committee viva-voce was
conducted on June04, 2020
Viva-voce Committee:
i) Dr. Vivek Bagchi and Dr. Ehesan Ali, INST Mohali(Convener)
ii) Prof. S K Mehta, Panjab University (External Examiner)
iii) Dr. Sonalika Vaidya, INST
iv) Dr. Menaka Jha, INST
The viva-voce committee has recommended that the PhD degree be awarded.

4) Name of Student: Mr. Bhupinder Singh Bharadwaj

Registration No.: PH12106
Registration: August 2012
Name of Supervisor: Dr. Rachna Chaba
Title of the Thesis: Molecular and functional insights into the regulation of D-
galactonate metabolism by a GntR family transcriptional regulator, DgoR in
Escherichia coli

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Item No. Agenda

Date of Thesis Submission: December24, 2019

Thesis Examination Committee:
i) Dr. Rachna Chaba, IISER Mohali (Supervisor)
ii) Dr. Harinarayanan, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics(External)
iii) Dr. Jayanta Mukhopadhyay, Bose Institute(External)
Based on the recommendation of thesis examination committee viva-voce was
conducted on June10, 2020
Viva-voce Committee:
i) Dr. Rachna Chaba(Convener)
ii) Dr. Harinarayanan, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (External
Examiner)
iii) Prof. Anand K Bachhawat
iv) Dr. Kausik Chattopadhyay
The viva-voce committee has recommended that the PhD degree be awarded.

5) Name of Student: Ms Swathi Krishna

Registration No.: PH14020
Registration: August 2014
Name of Supervisor: Dr. Krishnendu Gongopadhyay
Title of the Thesis: Hyperbolicity, Complexes of Groups and Cannon-Thurston
Maps
Date of Thesis Submission: February19, 2020
Thesis Examination Committee:
i) Dr. Krishnendu Gongopadhyay, IISER Mohali (Supervisor)
ii) Prof. Christopher J. Leininger, University of Illinois(External)
iii) Dr. Abhijit Pal, IIT Kanpur(External)
Based on the recommendation of thesis examination committee viva-voce was
conducted on June10, 2020
Viva-voce Committee:
i) Dr. Krishnendu Gongopadhyay(Convener)
ii) Dr. Abhijit Pal, IIT Kanpur (External Examiner)
iii) Dr. Pranab Sardar
iv) Dr. Soma Maity
The viva-voce committee has recommended that the PhD degree be awarded.

6) Name of Student: Mr. Ankit Singh

Registration No.: PH14036
Registration: August 2014
Name of Supervisor: Prof. Jasjeet Singh Bagla
Title of the Thesis: Galaxies and their environment
Date of Thesis Submission: March 04, 2020
Thesis Examination Committee:
i) Prof. Jasjeet Singh Bagla, IISER Mohali (Supervisor)
ii) Prof. Jayaram Chengalur, TIFR (External)

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Item No. Agenda

iii) Prof. Bianca M. Poggianti, INAF (External)

Based on the recommendation of thesis examination committee viva-voce was
conducted on June 12, 2020
Viva-voce Committee:
i) Prof. Jasjeet Singh Bagla (Convener)
ii) Prof. Jayaram Chengalur, TIFR (External Examiner)
iii) Dr. Harvinder Kaur Jassal
iv) Dr. Abhishek Chaudhuri
v) Dr. Smriti Mahajan
The viva-voce committee has recommended that the PhD degree be
awarded.

7) Name of Student: Ms Manleen Kaur

Registration No.: PH15024
Registration: August 2015
Name of Supervisor: Dr. V. Rajesh
Title of the Thesis: Catastrophe of the Great Economic Depression of 1929: The
Case of India
Date of Thesis Submission: February 27, 2020
Thesis Examination Committee:
i) Dr. V. Rajesh, IISER Mohali (Supervisor)
ii) Dr. V. Krishna Ananth, Sikkim University (External)
iii) Prof. Aditya Mukherjee, Professor of Contemporary History (Retd.)
(External)
Based on the recommendation of thesis examination committee viva-voce was
conducted on June 15, 2020
Viva-voce Committee:
i) Dr. V. Rajesh (Convener)
ii) Dr. V. Krishna Ananth, Sikkim University (External Examiner)
iii) Dr. Parth Chauhan
iv) Dr. Ritajyoti Bandyopadhyay
The viva-voce committee has recommended that the PhD degree be
awarded.
Noted. The Senate recommended following Seven students for Award of
Ph.D Degrees to the Board for its approval.
1. Ms. Priyanka Dogra
2. Ms. Swati Tanwar
3. Mr. Rajinder Kumar
4. Mr. Bhupinder Singh Bharadwaj
5. Ms. Swati Krishna
6. Mr. Ankit Singh
7. Ms. Manleen Kaur

Minutes for the 40th Meeting of the Senate, 18.06.2020 at 2.30 P.M. Page 6 of 11
Item No. Agenda

Senate 20.40.04 Number of students who have submitted synopsis (since the last senate
meeting): 04
Date of
S.
Name Reg. No. Dept. Supervisor Title of the thesis Synopsis
No.
submission
1. Avinash PH14041 PHY Dr. Harvinder Aspects of tachyon field 28.05.2020
Singh K. Jassal cosmology

2. Rivi PH12107 BIO Dr. Shashi A study on structural 29.05.2020

Verma Bhushan conservation of intra-chain
Pandit domain interfaces: learning
for interface modeling

3. Sandeep PH14224 INST Dr. P. S. Graphene Oxide based 04.06.2020

Vijaya Kumar Composite for Stimuli
responsive Agrochemicals
Delivery and to Augment
Plant Functions through
Nanobionics Approach
4. Shalini PH13005 BIO Dr. Ram WUSCHEL dynamically 05.06.2020
Yadav Kishor Yadav regulates auxin
biosynthesis to promote
stemness and progenitor
cell differentiation in the
shoot apical meristem of
Arabidopsis

Noted.
Senate 20.40.05 Number of students whose viva voce is scheduled:02

Now, this agenda item has been merged with agenda item No.20.40.03.

Senate 20.40.06 Number of students whose viva voce is pending (since the last senate meeting):
07
S. Name Reg. No. Dept. Supervisor Title of the thesis Date of Thesis
No. submission
1. Keerthivasan PH15011 BIO Dr. Kuljeet Insulated domain 12.03.2020
RC Singh Sandhu organization and regulation
of metazoan genomes
2. Richa Singh PH14008 BIO Dr. Manjari Examining the effect of 26.05.2020
Jain environmental factors on
acoustic signalling of a
nocturnal ensiferan insect,
Acanthogryllus asiaticus
3. Harpreet PH13049 CHM Dr. Santanu Design and Synthesis of 23.03.2020
Singh K Pal Porous Organic Polymers
for Sensing and Visible
Light Photocatalytic
Applications
4. Rashmi Jain PH14203 INST Dr. Sangita Development of bio- 09.03.2020
Roy inspired hydrogels for
tissue regeneration
5. Preetika PH14043 HSS Dr. Anu Queering the Urban: An 20.03.2020
Sharma Sabhlok Ethnographic Study of
Kothi Subcultures in
Chandigarh
6. Neha PH14017 MTH Dr. Galois Cohomology for 18.02.2020
Kwatra Chandrakant Lubin-Tate (φq, Γ LT )-
Aribam modules
7. Ruchi Tomar PH14226 INST Dr Suvankar Electronic Properties of 17.03.2020
Chakraverty Interfaces and Surfaces of
Perovskite Oxides

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Item No. Agenda

Noted.
Senate 20.40.07 The following students have resigned/left from the PhD programme (after
the last senate meeting): 2
S.
No. Name Reg. No. Dept. With effect from

1 Asis Kumar Khuntia PH17088 BIO Resigned w.e.f. 05.06.2020

2 Subham Agarwal PH19017 BIO Resigned w.e.f. 30.06.2020

Noted.
Senate 20.40.08 Proposals for completing grading for the even semester 2019.
Three proposals are being tabled for discussion and decision

Dean Academics presented a summary of feedback received from all

stakeholders about this issue. Based on the summary and proposals, the
senate adopted the following approach for completing grading for the even
semester 2019.
1. Use evaluation in courses (lab and theory) done before the lockdown to
grade students. In any course if evaluation has been done in the post-
lockdown period with participation of all students then this may be used at
the discretion of the instructor.

2. There will be no F grades, any students heading for an F grade will be

assigned an I grade.

3. Students can opt to appear in an exam (for theory courses) to be scheduled

at the earliest opportune time when students are back in the campus. These
are to be scheduled within the next one year with a minimum of two week
notice. Students with an I grade must appear in these exams or accept an F
grade. Any other students who want to improve their assigned grade can also
do so, irrespective of their assigned grade in courses from the even semester
2019.

4. The exam will be akin to an end-semester exam and earlier contributions

into evaluation will be taken into account. Grade boundaries will remain
frozen from the assignment of grades using scaled pre-lockdown evaluation.

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Item No. Agenda

5. Students have to declare their choice in this regard (whether they accept
the grade or whether they would like to appear in an exam) within two weeks
of the senate meeting approving the assigned grades. Any student choosing
to appear in the exam must accept the final grade after that exam.

6. Departments will schedule grade finalization meetings to process grades

for all students. This will be followed by the institute grade finalization
meeting where grades will be finalized and adopted. A meeting of the senate
to be scheduled to recommend finalization of results for all batches and award
of degrees for graduating students in the second week of July.

7. In case some graduating students are held back from completing the
requirements of the BS-MS degree due to an I grade then a special evaluation
may be organized for them. This will be discussed in detail after finalization
of grades. Senate may choose to moderate grades or take other supportive
action for students who are close to completing graduation requirements but
have performed poorly in this disrupted semester.

8. No students will be terminated in this cycle. Warnings will be issued and

any students who have received a warning for a second consecutive semester
(or more) will be considered to be on academic probation.

Senate 20.40.09 Proposal regarding fellowship and tenure for Integrated PhD program

At present Int. PhD students get a fellowship of Rs.10,000/- per month during
course work and up to comprehensive exam, JRF and SRF fellowship after
comprehensive exam for up to four years, and can also apply for six months of
half fellowship from Endowment Funds after that. It is proposed that the maximum
duration for which Int. PhD students can draw fellowship be restricted to 6.5 years.

It is proposed that the maximum tenure for Int. PhD students be restricted to 8
years.
Item on fellowship requires further discussion and is withdrawn.

Maximum tenure for Int. PhD students be restricted to 9 years.

A review of the Int. PhD program should be taken up.

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Item No. Agenda

Senate 20.40.10 New courses for minors: The courses have been approved in the 37th Senate
meeting. Course numbers have been assigned.

IDC636: Pedagogy of Science

IDC637: Science Communication
Noted.

Senate 20.40.11 Revised form for evaluation of PhD thesis:

A revised form for evaluation of PhD thesis has been prepared.

The senate suggested some modifications to the proposed form. It was

suggested that there should be four possible recommendations.

1. Accepted (in present form)

2. Accepted (with minor corrections)
3. Major Corrections (Please indicate whether you would like to review
the corrected thesis? Yes / No)
4. Rejected

Further, it was decided that if two external reviewers reject a thesis then the
student must take a minimum of six months if (s)he wants to submit a revised
thesis.
Senate 20.40.12 Request of Mr. Mohit Barsain (MS15091) to stay for one more semester and
clear two F grades:
Mohit Barsain (MS15091) has requested that he be permitted to stay for one
more semester and clear two F grades in courses that will run during the
odd semester 2020 (IDC101 & PHY111).

The senate decided to deny this request.

For Reporting:

Senate 20.40.13 Appointment of first Associate Dean Academics

Dr. Sugumar Venkataramani, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical
Sciences has been appointed as Associate Dean Academics, IISER Mohali.
Noted the appointments of following first Associate Deans: -
1. Dr. Sugumar Venkataramani, Associate Dean Academics
2. Dr. Abhishek Chaudhuri, Associate Dean Students Affairs
3. Dr. R. Vijay Anand, Associate Dean Research and Development

Senate 20.40.14 Revised fee structure for BS-MS, Int. PhD and PhD 2020-21 after receiving
direction from MHRD
MHRD has directed the Institute to hold the fees at the same level as last year. In
view of this, the revised fees charts are being submitted to the Senate for reference.

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Item No. Agenda

Noted.
Senate 20.40.15 Grade Card format for Graduating students
Specimen of the Revised Grade Card was presented in Senate meeting vide item
No.16.22.16 and the decision was noted for compliance. This has now been
implemented and tested in ERP for calculation of CPI/SPI. A few minor formatting
issues are being addressed. Grade Card will reflect all the courses (replaced or
repeated) attempted by the student during programme.

Noted.
Senate 20.40.17 Termination from BS-MS Dual degree programme after show cause notice:
Ms. Jarupula Savithri (Reg. No.MS19133) was terminated from BS-MS dual
degree programme at IISER Mohali vide letter dated 04.02.2020.

Noted.
Senate 20.40.17 Any other item with the permission of the chair.
Dr. Kavita Dorai flagged the issue of preparedness of the campus for return of
students and resumption of teaching. The chairperson noted the request and
informed the senators that a plan is being put in place and will be shared with the
faculty well before resumption of teaching activities.

Dr. Samarjit Bhattacharyya informed the Senate that many requests have been
received from students to waive off the fee for the forthcoming semester due to
COVID-19 as parents of many students have lost jobs due to this pandemic.
The Senate recommended that MHRD may be requested to allow the Institute to
defer fee for such students till December 2020.

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