After a rather vocal criticism of the Human Resource Development Ministry-drafted Institutes of Management Bill, 2015, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad director Ashish Nanda has written to the Ministry, cautioning it against introducing several key provisions aimed at taking away the autonomy of the institutes.
The Ministry has received the letter dated June 24 where Mr. Nanda has flagged several issues arising from the provisions of the Bill, some of which he says must be deleted and some need to be amended. Mr. Nanda’s suggestions are premised on the autonomy of IIMs.
IIM-Bangalore's former director Pankaj Chandra is forthright, when he says he wants the Bill “to be done away with.” According to him, the very introduction of the Bill is problematic as it raises serious questions about the standard and quality of the IIMs. “Have the IIMs performed badly? Do they require to be regulated when they are already governed by the Memorandum of Association?” he asks.
Mr. Chandra says the fact that the government is thinking of a Bill to regulate the institutions implies that the IIMs are not up to the mark. “Somebody needs to explain why the autonomy promised in the MOA is being taken away?”
He makes out a strong case for autonomy when he says the Board should choose the director and IIMs should be Board-governed. Mr. Chandra also questions the need to do away with diplomas currently awarded by the IIMs with degrees. Diplomas awarded by the IIMs are recognised world wide, he says.
Mr. Nanda’s letter focuses on rules for appointing the chairperson, powers of the Board, terms and condition of the service of the director, allowances to the Coordination Forum which unequivocally places all relevant powers with the Central government. These provisions coming under the Subsection 35 (2) in the proposed Bill should be deleted, he says.
Mr. Nanda also expresses concern at the overarching government control, evident in the use of the word regulation, which, he writes, needs to be done away with. Particularly worrying are the clauses in the draft Bill that give powers currently held by the individual IIM Boards to the government, the letter points out.
The draft rules, propose that regulations made by the Board must have the approval of the Central government. The sweeping government control, the letter says, will extend to an entire range of strategic and operational decisions of the institutes — that range from admission of candidates to various programmes, determining posts and emoluments of faculty and staff, formation of departments, establishment and maintenance of buildings, determining directors’ powers and responsibilities, conferring powers upon the academic council and in fact the very constitution of the Board requires prior government approval.
Mr. Nanda recommends doing away with the clause “with the approval of Central government,” substituting it instead with the following, “regulations’ means regulations made by the Board.”
The proposed Act also vests the appointment of chairperson with the government, which provision the IIM-A director wanted deleted.
Corrections and Clarifications:
The report headlined ‘Don’t take away our autonomy: IIMs’, that appeared on June 25, 2015, erroneously described, and also carried a photograph of, Pankaj Chandra as the Director of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, while quoting him. Professor Chandra is a former Director of the Institute. Dr. Sushil Vachani (in the picture) is the Director of IIM Bangalore, a position he has held for a year now. The error is regretted.
