The Hindu Business Line : Despite confusion over fee structure

THE Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, (IIM-C) is planning to start issuing admission letters to the new batch of students amid lack of clarity regarding the fee structure.

According to institute sources, to avoid delay at the beginning of the first semester, the admission notices are likely to be issued from May 11 onwards. However, in view of litigations, one pending in the Supreme Court and another in the Calcutta High Court, the fee for the new batch has remained undecided.

The Board of Governors has also not been able officially to accept the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development's order on downward fee revision so far.

However, a meeting of the Board of Governors has been scheduled for May 26, which is to take up the minutes of the board's 164th meeting held on March 26 and a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry. It may be mentioned that in 2003-04, IIM-C had fought shy of signing the MoU with the Ministry. It has linked payment of yearly grants to signing of the MoU.

The Faculty Council of IIM-C has moved the High Court challenging the validity of March 26 meeting on the issue of irregular replacements of its representative and nominee members by the Ministry. The hearing for the case will come up on May 11. "If the court does not dismiss the plea, then it would be difficult for the board to ignore the development. Moreover, the acceptance of minutes of the 164th meeting on May 26 is likely to face resistance form certain board members," sources pointed out.

To get out of the legal and technical imbroglio, the Faculty Council had earlier suggested maintaining the old fee structure for the new batch too, with a provision of refund in case the Supreme Court's final verdict went in favour of reducing the fee or there was an out-of-court settlement on the issue.

The IIM-C Director, who is supposed to take a final call on the issue in order to ensure timely admission, refused to make any comment.

The reported leakage of papers for the common admission test for IIMs has already delayed the admission process and created some confusion all around. A delay in the admission and the lack of clarity regarding the fee amount, have made aspiring students even more confused. Some of them fear that they may have problems in securing bank loans, which would fund their admission fee.

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