IIT Delhi Clears Air after Facing Flak for Job Ad Seeking Dog Handler with B.Tech Degree and Car

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi is looking for a dog handler.

In an ad posted by the premier technological institute in India, IIT Delhi was seeking individuals to fill the post of a dog-handler on campus. While the post on offer is on a contractual basis and comes under jobs for the security office, the low remuneration offered for the job caught many eyes on social media.

In the ad posted on August 26, IIT Delhi said it will be paying a salary of Rs 45,000 to the handler. As per reports, persons performing similar tasks for Delhi Police earned a bare Rs 20,000, less than half of what was being offered by IIT.

Yet another point that grabbed attention was the eligibility criteria for the handlers. While most service-security jobs are posted with eligibility criteria of 10+2 school education, IIT Delhi's said it will only try candidates with a “B.A/B.Sc/B.Com/B.Tech or any equivalent undergraduate degree”.

The ad was shared on Facebook on September 5 (Teachers' Day) by a user called Sayantan Ghosh who sarcastically said, "This teacher's day, life teaches you that no degree goes to waste".

But that's not it. In order to qualify for the position, the applicant must also a four-wheeler, the advertisement read. This was so that the handler would be able to transport the dog to and from the vet's clinic. While most institutions hiring a dog handler would ensure the person gets all resources, IIT Delhi seems to expect a bit too much from the handlers.

Apart from the bizarre eligibility criteria, IIT Delhi claimed it was looking for someone in the age of 21-35-year-old, male or female, who would be able to single-handedly perform tasks like vaccinating the dog and taking care of its medical needs while also managing paperwork, creating excels and PPT presentations to "coordinate with NGOs for sterilization among other things.

The ad has been generating some interesting responses of social media with many commenting on how unfair the ad was, both to professional dog-handlers as well as B.A/B.Sc/B.Com/B.Tech graduates who usually have nothing to do with dog or animal care.

Many wondered why IIT required engineers for the post of dog handler, joking that the position could indeed by another opportunity for IITians themselves.

The advertisement comes amid one of the worst periods of the Indian economy, which has faced severe job loss due to the coronavirus pandemic this year.

Following the controversy, IIT Delhi has issued a clarification on Saturday, stating that the advertisement was the result of a mix-up. As per a press release by the institute,

"IIT Delhi would like to clarify that the minimum qualification as mentioned in the advertisement got inadvertently copied from another job advertisement. The qualification intended in the advertisement was ‘Bachelor of Veterinary Science".

The institute has canceled the current recruitment process after this mistake was brought to the notice of higher authorities, the release further added.