Kurien-Reddy spat seen tarnishing Irma image

The ongoing legal tussle between Varghese Kurien, chairman of the Institute of Rural Management-Anand (Irma) and K Prathap Reddy, director of Irma will definitely affect the image of Irma, said the people who are keeping a close watch at the battle for supremacy.

They opined that such fights would also hit the students and faculty members.

The ongoing tussle reminds them of fights between Kurien and Amrita Patel, chairman of NDDB, a year back.

People say the current controversy also reminds them of another such fight between the Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) and former minister for human resources development Murli Manohar Joshi over the fee-cut issue.

Anand, the milk capital of India, with a population of about two lakh and home of heavyweight establishments such as GCMMF, NDDB, Irma and Amul Dairy is gloomy since the controversy broke out last month.

Southern parts of Anand where these major organisations and its employees are based, seem especially affected over the issues relating to Kurien's chairmanship of Irma.

Kurien has been considered as a father figure in the region dominated by Gujarati farmers and entrepreneurs. But this is the first time in the last 40-50 years that doubts have been raised over Kurien's standing in view of the boardroom drama involving him.

One of the former directors of Irma told Business Standard on condition of anonymity, "It's very sad. A number of people have respected the dream institutions created by Kurien and now this should not be a climax. I can understand the pain of Reddy. It is not in the interest of the institute which produces managers for tomorrow. The chairman should have stepped down at the right time and created a second line of command for future to avoid such disgrace for himself and his dream institute."

Same is the feelings among the Irma alumni who are witnessing the name of the institute in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

An Irma graduate and now a fellow with Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) Vaibhav Bhamoriya said, "We former students of Irma are very sad about the recent happenings at the institute. We are equally anxious about the outcome as we are not sure where the institute will land once the controversy is over.

"After Kurien, we do not see anyone who can fill that gap. Unfortunately, we are biggest stakeholders in the entire issue who will wear Irma on their sleeves for the rest of life and are in no position to play a role."

The present students at the institutes are equally concerned about the issue.