The Hindu Business Line : Govt mulling umbrella legislation for IIMs; ‘autonomy stays’

New Delhi, Sept. 27 The Government is examining a proposal to bring the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) under an umbrella legislation like the IITs, which are under the Institutes of Technology Act. This will enable the IIMs to award degrees to students, instead of diplomas as they do at present, the Human Resource Development Ministry said here today.

It further clarified that bringing the IIMs under the ambit of a Central law would in no way alter their accountability to Parliament or their status of being public institutions.

The IIMs currently function under their respective Memorandum of Associations (MoAs) registered under the Societies Registration Act. As public institutions, they are accountable to Parliament but enjoy autonomy as regards academic curriculum, matters relating to fees and selection of faculty, among others.

However, the Ministry said that such a Bill was still in discussion stage and had not been drafted as yet. At present, the MoAs of all the IIMs empower the Central Government to appoint one or more persons to review the work and progress of these institutes. Two such committees had been set up in 1979 and 1991. Recently, the Government decided to constitute a third Review Committee under the chairmanship of Mr S. Venkitaramanan, former Governor, Reserve Bank of India. Its terms of reference included review of present status of IIMs, their organisational and administrative structure, their expansion proposals during the 11th Plan and per-student cost of various courses, among others.

According to the Ministry, Mr Venkitaramanan has expressed his inability to chair the Committee, hence the Government is currently in the process of nominating a suitable chairperson for it.

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