IIM-Indore chief recalled by HRD ministry

S Sudarshanam, Director, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore, was recalled by the human resources development (HRD) ministry yesterday, a day after the institute decided to go by the order of the Supreme Court on the fee cut issue.

P Parashar, who is currently a faculty member in the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, will take over on April 5.

According to government sources, though Sudarshanam has been recalled, the ministry has not officially issued an order as it will be in violation of the electoral code of conduct.

IIM sources said Sudarshanam's stand on several issues were in variance to those of the ministry's.

Yesterday's decision, taken by the Board of Governors of IIM-Indore, is being perceived as an act of defiance as the institute had refused to comply with the HRD ministry's fee cut proposal, unlike IIM-Lucknow.

This seems to have provoked the ministry to recall Sudarshanam. However, the ministry has, unofficially, denied any connection between the two developments.

"Recalling Sudarshanam has nothing to do with Monday's meeting. The stage for his exit was ready long back and his order was also signed and served before the meeting. We have found a full-time director who is also not a ministry employee," a bureaucrat close to the development, said from Delhi on condition of anonymity.

Sources in IIM-Indore said the ministry might even back-date the order to prove that it was not reacting to Sudarshanam's stand on the fee cut issue.

Sudarshanam and his successor Parashar could not be contacted for comments.

Interestingly, a year back, Sudarshanam's appointment as director of IIM-Indore had created a buzz because it was the first time that a bureaucrat had been appointed to head an IIM.

Sudarshanam's predecessor, Rajan Saxena, was shown the door by the ministry on July 22 last year following allegations of financial irregularities. The ministry had also charged Saxena with favouring a Mumbai-based advertising agency.

The charges leveled by the ministry are yet to be proved, according to IIM-Indore sources.

Saxena and V S Pandey, joint secretary in the HRD ministry, were also not available for comment.

Interestingly, Sudarshanam was asked to take Saxena's chair by Pandey as the latter was in charge of the IIMs and Indian Institutes of Technology at the ministry.

Baba Kalyani, chairman of Bharat Forge, is the chairman of IIM-Indore.

Ministry has more say in younger IIMS

The human resources development (HRD) ministry has itself drafted the Memorandum of Association (MoA) of the the relatively newer Indian Institutes of Management (IIMS) "" Indore and Kozikode, reports Joydeep Ray. The IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata, had at the time of their inception, been given the liberty of drafting their own MoAs through their respective societies. In a second step, the Ministry also tried to put its own men in the vital positions of these premier institutes. Not being satisfied with MoAs in its favour, the ministry also reportedly put its own men wherever it was possible. KPP Nambiar, a retired bureaucrat, was asked to step down as the chairman of the Board of Governors of IIM-Kozikode, when he refused to bow to the HRD ministry's diktats. He was replaced by AC Muthiah, Chairman of Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation. Nambiar who was Chairman of the Board since its inception in 1996 was given an extension of five years after he completed his first first five-year term. But, within two years of his second term, last year, he had to leave which caused much furore among staff members in IIM-Kozikode.