IIM Indore to abide by SC order

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore, has decided to go by the order of the Supreme Court on the fee cut issue.

The decision, taken by the Board of Governors of IIM-Indore on Monday evening, is contrary to IIM-Lucknow's decision to comply with the human resources development (HRD) ministry's move.

"Even after provocation and pressure tactics adopted by the ministry and its four representatives, who attended today's Board of Governors meeting, the institute did not bow to the irrational orders of the HRD ministry. The meeting concluded with the decision to obey the Supreme Court order, whenever it was passed following the hearing of the public interest litigation. If required, IIM-Indore might also join the petition as impleadment applicant if the court permits," a source close to the developments told Business Standard on Monday.

The Supreme Court had on Friday revived a petition challenging the decision to cut the annual fee at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) by 80 per cent as the Union government refused to give an undertaking that the fee cut would not lead to its interference in the autonomy of the institutes.

Acting Director of IIM-Indore, S Sudarshanam, who is interestingly a human resources development ministry official, was not available for comments.

To ensure the victory of the government's standpoint in the case of voting, all four ministry nominees in the board were present, a source in the institute said.

VS Pandey and V Piparsania, joint secretary and financial advisor, respectively, to the ministry attended Monday's board meeting of IIM-Indore. They were accompanied by two other government officials. The board has space for four representatives from the ministry, apart from two state government representatives.

The state government nominees were not present at the meeting, sources said. Among the 19 members of the Board of Governors, 15 members attended the meeting, including the four ministry nominees.

"IIM-Indore's decision has dealt a blow to the process of falling in line with the ministry's order, which started with IIM-Lucknow and IIM-Kozhikode's submission," a source in the institute said.

Meanwhile, IIM-Kozhikode informed the ministry that if it implemented the order, it would be facing a shortfall of Rs 1.7 crore.

"IIM-Kozhikode has indicated that if the ministry makes up the shortfall, it will implement the fee cut," a source in the institute said.

However, IIM- Kozhikode's Board of Governors meeting, which was held on February 15, remained inconclusive on the issue.

The next board meeting has not been scheduled as yet, which points to the fact that the institute is ready to comply with the order.

Both IIM- Kozhikode Director Krishna Kumar and former Director A H Kalro, who attended the February 15 meeting, could not be contacted.