According to authorities, there are two major issues - one of payment of assistant and associate professors and the other a cap on the number of professors who can be promoted to the next level.

'The government has put a cap that only 40 percent of professors can only be promoted to senior professor level. This is not fair. In IITs, we are talking about quality and if someone is really good, why halt his or her growth in the guise of mere number,' said a senior member of the federation.

According to the HRD ministry, the IITs can not appoint a professor without at least four years of teaching experience at an IIT or IIM. 'Looking at the severe faculty shortage at IITs, some rules need to change too,' Thenmozhi argued.

There is a nearly 20-25 percent shortage of faculty members in all the IITs. And with the number of seats increasing every year to accommodate the 27 percent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and new IITs functioning from independent campuses, the situation is expected to only worsen.