Kakodkar had in 2015 resigned as chairman of IIT Bombay after a spat with then minister Smriti Irani over the selection of directors for a raft of IITs. Sources said that once the President gives his approval, the ministry usually takes a day or two to issue the appointment order. The current ministry, headed by Prakash Javadekar, wanted to bring Kakodkar back as an IIT chairman and had recommended him to the President, the Visitor for all the IITs. An IIT chairman chairs the meeting of the institute's board of governors, which takes broad decisions on behalf of the tech school. In an interview to NDTV in November 2015, Irani had claimed that Kakodkar had tried to push "his own candidate" for the post of an IIT director.

Source: The Telegraph December 03, 2017 21:11 UTC