IIM-C files petition against board meet

The faculty council of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, yesterday filed a lawsuit in the Calcutta High Court, challenging the validity of the board meeting held on March 26, which had informally decided to go in for a fee cut.

The faculty council stated in the petition that the board, at its March 26 meeting, nominated IIM-Calcutta Chairman YC Deveshwar to draft a resolution, taking into consideration the interests of the stakeholders.

"The case is likely to come up for hearing early next week," an institute spokesperson said.

The council believed that the chairman would draft a resolution, which would be placed at the next board meeting for ratification.

However, Deveshwar finalised the resolution, which was circulated among the stakeholders. The resolution stated the reduction in fee would be equal to the amount of subsidy provided by the human resources development ministry through funding.

This was based on the assurance given by the ministry that the financial consequences of implementing the order would be fully funded by the government and would not adversely impact the institute's plans to develop world-class teaching and learning infrastructure.

The move to exercise the legal option was decided at the faculty council meeting held couple of days back.

The faculty claimed that the induction of four members prior to the board meeting on March 26 was illegal, and hence the decisions taken at the meeting were illegitimate.

The faculty has also planned to request the human resources development ministry to include it in the dialogue process.

A three-member committee would be formed, comprising two members from the faculty and one from alumni, for the purpose.

The council had recommended to the director that the grant of Rs 4 crore, promised by the ministry to offset the losses for the fee cut, should be kept in a separate account and not utilised till the matter was resolved either through dialogue with the ministry or a Supreme Court judgement.