The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are a network of autonomous public engineering, technology, and research universities, legally defined as an Institution of National Importance (INI). The concept originated from the Sarkar Committee in the late 1940s, which recommended their establishment to train a skilled workforce for India's post-independence economic and social development. The first institute, IIT Kharagpur, was established in May 1950 at the site of the former Hijli Detention Camp.
The legal framework is the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 (Act No. 59 of 1961), which repealed the earlier Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) Act, 1956. This Act, which came into effect on April 1, 1962, grants the IITs their legal status, degree-awarding powers, and a high degree of autonomy. The mechanism of governance involves a Board of Governors for each institute and a common coordinating body, the IIT Council, which is chaired ex officio by the Union Minister of Education. The President of India serves as the Visitor for all IITs.
The IITs are connected to a broader ecosystem of premier technical education, having inspired the creation of similar institutions like the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs). The core structure and INI status under the 1961 Act have remained constant, but the Act is periodically amended to incorporate new institutes. A recent amendment was the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act No. 41 of 2016), which brought six new IITs and the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad under the Act's purview.