IIM case: HRD ministry mulls move

The human resources development ministry met to discuss its course of action on the fee cut issue. The IIM-Ahmedabad Society today planned to hike fees by 17 per cent instead of slashing it as per the ministry's directive. Officials said the ministry had decided to abstain from the meeting.

"It was a strategic move to wait and watch in order to understand what the meeting would yield," said a source. Joint secretaries in the ministry, VS Pandey and V Piparsania, are the government's representatives in the IIM-A Society.

The sources, however, did not confirm if the two officials would attend the meeting of the board of governors tomorrow.

Petitioner in the Supreme Court case Sandeep Parekh welcomed IIM-Ahmedabad's resolution to look into the contention that poor students could not access education and said the institute had attacked the "issue" and not the "ministry".