The Hindu Business Line : IRMA battle spills on to the road

THE gate of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) became the latest battleground in the war between the institute founder Chairman, Dr Verghese Kurien, and his detractors on the day the institute held its 24th convocation.

Minutes before the IRMA board met today to confirm the award of degrees on graduating students, the security staff at the gate prevented the entry of eminent personalities whose candidature as members of the IRMA board has become the subject of an intense court battle. Prof. Bakul Dholakia (Director of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad), Mr Hasmukh Shah (Chairman of the National Institute of Design) and Mr Vijay Mahajan (Chief of Basix, a Hyderabad-based non-government organisation) were prevented from entering the IRMA campus on instructions from the acting Director of the Institute, Dr L.K. Vaswani. The IRMA Director, Prof. K. Prathap Reddy, who had been sacked by Dr Kurien earlier this week, was also prevented from attending the board meeting and was seen walking out of the campus.

Prof. Dholakia, Mr Shah and Mr Mahajan tried to force their way in but had to retreat as they ran into a bunch of private security guards who were determined not to let them in even as the National Dairy Development Board Chairperson (NDDB), Dr Amrita Patel, drove in.

After the board meeting and the convocation ceremony, Dr Kurien, who at 83 is still actively involved with IRMA and Amul, repeated his standard responses about a "conspiracy" to take control of the "beautiful institute" and said that he was not willing to be pushed out of IRMA. Asked why three board members were stopped at the gates, he said: "I must manage the function. If that requires stopping somebody at the gate, I will do it."

Later, the board members who have been opposing Dr Kurien's "autocratic ways" assembled at the IRMA gate to give their version of the dramatic events. The NDDB Chairperson, Dr Patel, for the first time came out in the open against her mentor and said that Dr Kurien did not have the authority to sack the Director. She said that she and the other board members would continue to fight for the "injustice" meted out to Prof Reddy. "If you go by the rules, the Chairman has no powers (to sack the Director). He (Dr Kurien) has assumed these powers, and that is the problem," she said.

Responding to queries on the setting up of a committee to look for a new Chairman during the controversial April 1 board meeting in which the Kurien camp had stayed away, she said that nobody had ever said that Dr Kurien should be removed. "We discovered from the Assistant Charity Commissioner's order that Dr Kurien was the de-facto and not the de-jure Chairman of IRMA. The board simply wanted to correct this anomaly and have a formally elected Chairman. That does not necessarily mean that the board wanted him out. As of now, one man is running the show, we only want to correct that," she said.

The IIM-A Director, Prof Dholakia, was more direct in his criticism. "One man, (Dr Kurien's Executive Assistant) Mr P.A. Joseph, is practically acting as the Chairman of IRMA. If Dr Kurien thinks that there are vested interests hatching a conspiracy to capture IRMA, I want to ask him what about the vested interest in his own office?" he said.

`Walls of IRMA remain tall and strong'

FOLLOWING are excerpts from Dr Verghese Kurien's convocation speech.

"As you all might be aware, the past few weeks have seen the unfolding of some unfortunate events perpetrated to sully the clean image of IRMA. I must tell you, while all institutions go through a crisis or a turbulent period, in the case of IRMA, such events were the result of some vested interests trying to take control of IRMA through illegal and unfair means.

"I recall having once said in the past that I have built the walls of IRMA so tall and strong lest any unscrupulous elements take control of her. I have no hesitation to say again that the walls of IRMA still remain as tall and strong as they were and nobody with any self-interest can dare touch her.

"On this occasion, I would like to assure you all that IRMA will continue to remain strong and autonomous and scale newer heights of reputation and credibility in the years to come."

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