Faced with a Bill that is likely to strip the premiere management institutes off their autonomy and put them under Central regulations, the chief of one of the flagship institutes, Indian Institute of Management - Ahmedabad (IIM-A), maintained the institute will take up a consultative approach with the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Considering the possibility of misunderstanding on the part of the officials of the Ministry, AM Naik, Chairman of IIM-A, said, “Someone in the ministry would have prepared the draft without understanding the implications of the provisions he is putting in...I am sure the HRD Minister may not be involved because she might not have gone through the details.”

“We have already taken up the issue with the Union Ministry of HRD. We have written a letter to them as to why it should not be implemented in the present shape. Our director is in the discussion with the officials there,” said Naik, addressing the media at IIM-A’s campus.

Focus points The main objection lies in the encroachment of the Centre in the powers currently vested on the Governing Board of the Institutes. These include, appointment of Chairman, determining cost and emoluments of faculty and staff, specifying the fees, formation of departments, maintenance of the building, determining director’s powers, powers of the academic council, chief administration, constitution of the Board and specifying duties of committees. “It virtually makes the institutes merely operational centres. This Bill will be detrimental to the interest of the management studies in India,” said the L&T chief.

IIM-A,-B and -L have been vocal in their objection to the latest draft of the Bill.

IIM-A Director Ashish Nanda further added the Bill has “regulations” in most places, while for some proposals, they are required to be “pre-approved” from the Central government.

“Right now we feel there is some misunderstanding from their side. We do not know why the government is planning to introduce such provisions. We hope that we are able to convince powers that be of our point of view,” said Nanda.

Micro-management Earlier Nanda had cautioned against the attempt to ‘micro-manage’ the premier institutes. “The government can be a wise overseer of the performance of academic institutions from a distance but not indulge in micro-management of the institutes,” he said.

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