Resting aside rumours that the selection process for the post of a director would be less participatory this year at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Bakul Dholakia, director of IIM Ahmedabad, said the chairperson of the governing board of IIM-A, Vijaypat Singhania, has decided to follow the traditional consultancy process.Singhania has already communicated to all faculty members to send in their nominations, and will also address the faculty council in September at the institute.Also, a day after the print media carried reports of him calling the government's decision to invite applications for the post of director in three Indian Institutes of Management as an infringement of the autonomy of these institutions, Dholakia has clarified that the ministry issuing an advertisement itself does not create a problem."There is no reason why a consultative process cannot run concurrently with an advertisement," said Dholakia who added that anyone has the freedom to apply and others have the freedom to suggest names. He said that following the issuing of the advertisement, he had talked to concerned officials at the ministry and they told him that the advertisement does not preclude the nomination process, and that the IIM board and faculty members are free to suggest names.
