Talks are better than litigation: IIMs

Stand in Supreme Court miffs petitioners.

The controversy over the fee cut at the Indian Institutes of Management took a new turn in the Supreme Court yesterday, with IIM-Ahmedabad softening its stance by opting for a dialogue to resolve the issue before exploring legal recourse.

The IIM-Ahmedabad move did not go down well with the public interest litigants, who claimed the institute's affidavit, submitted in the apex court on April 13, was different from its stand yesterday.

The Supreme Court deferred hearings to the third week of July after IIM-Ahmedabad submitted that it would continue its dialogue with the ministry of human resource development. IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Calcutta, too, said they were open to discussing the fee issue with the ministry.

IIM-Ahmedabad has a set up a committee to talk with the ministry. The committee had its first meeting with Human Resource Development Secretary SC Tripathi last week.

"We were surprised by the stand taken by IIM-Ahmedabad today as we wanted an argument based on the merits of the case, but I think IIM-A took a neutral stand," Petitioner Sandeep Parekh told Business Standard.

"It will harm the cause of IIM-Bangalore and the faculty council of IIM-Calcutta, which had shown courage by going against its chairman," he added.

Though the resolution passed by IIM-Ahmedabad on April 3 and the affidavit filed by it this week did not rule out dialogue with the government, it was expected the institute would stand up to the other contentious issues of autonomy.

Dismissing allegations by the petitioner's counsel Harish Salve, who said the government had resorted to arm-twisting, IIM-Ahmedabad issued a statement clarifying the institute would opt for an independent petition only if the dialogue failed.

Tripathi welcomed today's move and said the ministry would do its best to negotiate with the IIMs to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution.

IIM-Bangalore Director Prakash Apte hoped that with a new government in place by the next court hearing, things would change. Asked if there was enough room for dialogue with the ministry, he said IIM-Bangalore was agreeable to talks.

IIM-Indore Director SP Parasher said yesterday's order gave the institute adequate time to file the necessary financial documents in the apex court.

Asked if he was hopeful of a positive outcome, he said the government had its representatives on the institute's board and he was looking forward to negotiating with them.