Kurien to induct 5 new members: Irma board

Varghese Kurien, the embattled chairman of the Institute of Rural Management-Anand (Irma), has decided to co-opt five new members to the Board of Governors.

They will be inducted into the board in place of those who, according to Kurien, have ceased to be the board members from February 15.

In a related development, L K Vaswani, acting director of the institute has shot of a letter to these five members asking them to stay away from the Friday's board meeting.

Two representatives of the central and state governments will also attend the meeting.

Vipul Mittra, a senior IAS officer and secretary of state ministry of rural development and Amar Singh, joint secretary of Union ministry of rural development are expected to speak against Kurien's recent steps including the termination of the former Irma director K Prathap Reddy.

Both Mittra and Singh have signed in the circular resolution moved on Tuesday that termed the termination illegal.

"The controversies would be over on Friday as I have decided to co-opt five new members in place of those outsiders who are acting against the interest of Irma. Their term was over two months back and they still feel that they are part of the board. This is a wrong notion and the truth will come out tomorrow," said Kurien, in an exclusive interview with Business Standard.

The Anand civil court has not yet decided on the issue and has kept the next hearing on April 19.

"We are not even sure of the legality of Kurien's chairmanship. He has perhaps forgotten that in the board meeting on February 28, all of us were given two year's extension. Kurien had himself chaired that meeting," said one of the five board members, seeking anonymity.

"On Thursday evening, we were informed not to attend the board meeting on Friday. This in fact, contradicts the February 28 board meeting resolutions and we will attend the meeting tomorrow," he added. "They have no right to be in this institute," reacted Kurien.

Meanwhile, the anti-Kurien camp is excited by the support extended to them by government nominees in the board.

"Both the government representatives have signed the circular resolutions moved on Tuesday. With the support from the government, Kurien would be stopped from making illegal steps and may even lead to a situation where he would require to finally resign as the chairman," said the board member.

Friday morning will also see the Gujarat High Court taking up two Irma related cases. One is the petition filed by Reddy challenging his termination, and the second is a petition filed by a faculty member asking HC to restrict the five members from attending the Friday meeting.