Cabinet approves bill that empowers IIMs to award degrees instead of diplomas

Cabinet approves IIM amendment Bill which gives powers to IIMs to award degrees to its students instead of diplomas.

A bill aimed at granting statutory powers to IIMs, enabling them to give full-fledged degrees, received the Union cabinet’s approval on Tuesday.

Cabinet approves IIM amendment Bill which gives powers to IIMs to award degrees to its students instead of diplomas.(HT File Photo)

Until now, the 20 premier management institutes in the country had been awarding post-graduate diplomas to their students.

The human resource development (HRD) ministry may table the proposed draft of the Indian Institutes of Management Bill 2017 in the budget session of Parliament.

The bill provides for complete autonomy to the IIMs, combined with adequate accountability.

Currently, all IIMs are separate autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act. Being societies. IIMs are not authorised to award degrees and, hence, they have been giving postgraduate diploma and fellow programme in management. Though these diplomas are treated as equivalent to MBAs and PhD, they are not universally acceptable.

Shortly after the Cabinet decision was announced, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted that it was a “historic decision to give IIMs real autonomy and grant degrees”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted: “The IIM Bill, which was approved by the Cabinet has been prepared with the aim of furthering excellence in these premier institutions.”

According to sources, the draft bill will also grant the board of governors the power to order a probe against an IIM director if his institute was not performing as per the provisions of the proposed Act. The investigation will be conducted by a person not below the rank of a high court judge.

The proposed draft said the board must evaluate the performance of a new institute within the first three years of its establishment, and every few years after that.

The institutes will be managed by a board, and each will have a chairperson and director who will be selected by the board.

The President of India will not be the visitor in IIMs, as is the case with centrally-funded institutions such as the IITs and central universities.