Clarify stand in a week, SC tells Centre

The Supreme Court on Friday gave a week's time to the Centre to clarify its stand on the commitment not to interfere with the functioning of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and to provide adequate funds to them in view of the drastic reduction in their fees from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 30,000.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare, Justice S B Sinha and Justice S H Kapadia gave time till March 19 to Additional Solcitor-General Mukul Rohtagi in view of an application seeking recording of the government's stand.

The application filed by Sandeep Parikh and two others said the court had on February 27 disposed of their public interest litigation (PIL) on the assurance of the Centre that the fee cut did not amount to interference in the functioning of the six IIMs and that it would make good the shortfall in the funds due to the fee cut.

Terming the application as "malafide", Rohtagi said the court had disposed of the PIL on the basis of a clear stand from the government and the petitioners were raking up the issue again linking the decision to the autonomy of the institutes.

He said if the "autonomy" word was added to the undertaking, any decision taken by the government vis-a-vis these institutes would result in contempt proceedings.

The Chief Justice said if the government gave the undertaking not to interfere in the functioning of the IIMs, the court would clarify that any future litigation on the issue of interference in the "autonomy" of the institutes would have to be agitated before appropriate forums as a separate litigation.

Appearing for the applicants, Senior Advocate Harish Salve took strong exception to the use of the word "malafide" and said none of the applicants nor the counsel associated with the petition were aspiring to play any role in the management of the IIMs.

Repeating the accusation, the additional solicitor-general said, "The government knows the people who are blowing the issue out of proportions."

However, he said he would consult the ministry on the issue and get back to the court. The court asked him to get back with the government's response in a week and posted the matter for further hearing on March 19.

The applicants have sought recording of two undertakings from the government--first, that the government had no intention to interfere with the autonomy of these institutions, which would become more dependent on the Centre for funds in view of the drastic cut in fees.

Second, the government should make it clear that it would make funds available to the IIMs as and when necessary, to cope with the shortfall of funds arising from the fee cut.

In case the government was not willing to give these undertakings, the court should recall its order and restore the petitions for hearing on merit, they said.