IIT Delhi has filed a plea against coupling of its name with FIITJEE at the metro station
The HRD Ministry has written to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, seeking its intervention in the ongoing row over the name of a metro station outside IIT-Delhi's campus.
The premier engineering institute has objected to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) selling the branding rights of the IIT Metro station to FIITJEE, a private coaching school and moved court last month.
"The naming of the metro station is giving the false impression that it is coaching engineering aspirants in association with IIT-Delhi and we have asked the MoHUA to ensure that the general public is not misled by the association of a coaching institute with IIT-Delhi," a senior HRD Ministry official said.
A senior DMRC official, when contacted, said, "The matter is sub judice, so we will not comment at the moment."
The Delhi High Court had sought the response of the DMRC on a plea by IIT-D against coupling of its name with FIITJEE at the metro station near the engineering institute.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher, before whom the matter came up for hearing, had issued notice to the DMRC and FIITJEE and sought their stands on the IIT's plea that the 'co-branding' has misled people to think that both have partnered together.
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), in its plea, has sought directions to the Delhi Metro to not use its name in conjunction with that of FIITJEE, claiming it is tarnishing the image of the premier engineering institute.
The DMRC, in a statement, said that, "It had not done anything illegal in the matter."
The IIT station comes under the recently-opened Kalkaji Mandir-Janakpuri West corridor of the Magenta Line, and falls in the busy south Delhi area.
The coaching centre's co-branding with the IIT station name had upset the premier institute, prompting it to move the court late last month.
The DMRC has refashioned names of some of its stations as part of its co-branding policy. As many as 41 stations have been taken up under the policy and many have been co-branded while others are in pipeline.
The Vishwavidyalaya metro station was co-branded with Honda 2 Wheelers long back while the Jor Bagh station was recently co-branded with LIC.