Review panel not for diluting IIM autonomy

The review committee set up to scrutinize overall functioning of the IIMs has said it’s not in favour of reducing the powers or autonomy of the business schools, reports Prasad Nichenametla.

The review committee set up to scrutinize overall functioning of the IIMs has said it’s not in favour of reducing the powers or autonomy of the business schools.

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The panel submitted its report to the government on Thursday.

Though unwilling to divulge details, panel members did hint at some structural changes in the governance of the IIMs. “It has to be seen what kind of autonomy will prevail in the IIMs. But we’ve not suggested anything which would reduce the powers of the IIMs,” committee chairman R.C. Bhargava, former managing director, Maruti Udyog, told HT.

The panel was set up in October last in the wake of the ministry of human resource development's proposal to bring the IIMs under a regulating legislation on lines of the one for the Indian Institutes of Technology. “We have not suggested any legislation of that sort,” Bhargava said.

On the issue of fees, the committee said it was proposing a “needs-blind model” under which there would be a provision for finance for all students, regardless of their background.

“But the issue is supposed to be dealt with by another committee formed in the wake of the Sixth Pay Commission,” Ajit Balakrishnan, a committee member and also chairman of the board of governors, IIM-Calcutta, said.