Updated on: Thursday, June 25, 2015
The draft IIM Bill has received enormous flak from the IIMs who have rallied against the curtailment of the academic and financial autonomy of the business schools in the freedom to decide on fee structure, and remunerations of the faculty. A few complaints regarding the bill have been registered the human resource development ministry asking it to re-draft it in consultations with three major IIMs- Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Bangalore.
The power in the hands of the HRD Ministry in regards to the fee structure, salary and remuneration paid to the employees, scholarship and fellowships to the students and even construction of new building blocks, which is being considered as destructive to the institutes due to lack of autonomous power. The IIMs also fear turning from an academic board to a mere recommendatory body.
While the main bill gives autonomy to the IIMs, problems have been encountered regarding the Section 35 and Section 36, as a result of which the ministry has not only been requested to extend the time for public consultations but also re-draft the bill. While the board of IIMs are okay with the government holding the institutions accountable, it has raised issues with allowing them complete operational autonomy. While IIM-Lucknow and IIM-Banglaore have already written to the ministry, IIM-Ahmedabad will submit its concerns on Wednesday.