To

The Dean, Academic Affairs
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
Roorkee, Uttarakhand

Subject: Petition for Revision of Biometric Attendance Policy for Full-Time Ph.D. Scholars

Respected Sir/Madam,

We, the undersigned full-time Ph.D. research scholars, would like to express our concerns regarding the recently implemented biometric attendance policy requiring mandatory IN and OUT marking within fixed working hours (8:45 AM to 5:30 PM).

Ph.D. research is inherently flexible and often demands long, irregular working hours that extend beyond conventional schedules. Many scholars work late nights, early mornings, and well beyond 12 hours a day depending on the nature of experiments, computational tasks, fieldwork preparation, and publication deadlines. Imposing rigid time-bound attendance does not align with the realities of research work and may adversely affect both productivity and well-being.

The requirement of marking attendance twice daily within fixed hours:

• Restricts the flexibility essential for effective research.
• Disrupts experimental workflows and long-duration tasks.
• Fails to account for the diverse nature of research across disciplines.
• Adds administrative pressure without necessarily improving academic outcomes.

In light of the above concerns, we respectfully propose the following:

• Implementation of a single attendance marking per day during working hours.
• Alternatively, a more flexible attendance-making app that works only with the institute's Wi-Fi toaccommodate varied research schedules.

We fully acknowledge the importance of accountability and institutional discipline. However, we believe that a more flexible system will better support research productivity while still ensuring responsibility and transparency.

We sincerely request the administration to reconsider the current policy and engage with research scholars to develop a more practical and research-friendly attendance framework.

We hope for your kind consideration and a positive resolution.

Thanking you.

Yours sincerely,
(Concerned Ph.D. Research Scholars)