IIM Bill stuck again over autonomy

The IIM Bill is likely to be delayed yet again as PMO has expressed concern over the issue of autonomy of the institute in the bill’s present form.

According to reports, PMO has said that the autonomy of the institutes will be compromised if the bill is passed in its present form. PMO is not in favour of HRD minister being the ex-officio head of IIMs, and is mulling over having an expert as the committee head.

The IIM Bill was expected to be introduced in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Earlier, the HRD Ministry had argued that a similar provision has worked successfully in the IITs.

PMO is of the view that the blueprint of Institute of Technology Act, that governs IIT, cannot be applied to IIM as there’s basic difference between the two and that the latter needs a different model. The opinion has been attributed reportedly to the fact that the need to seek permission from the ministry for everything has resulted in dwindling of the numbers of researches in IIT.

PMO had problem with four issues in the bill:

1. President to be the visitor of IIMs with power to review their functioning.
2. HRD minister to be made the ex-officio head of committee of IIMs.
3. Composition of IIM boards.
4. IIMs should not come to government for change in regulations.

While, the first and the fourth issues have been resolved, the rest are being revisited.

The Ministry agreed with PMO over the composition of IIM boards. The Ministry wanted only three out of the 14 members from among alumni, while the PMO suggested 5. It also agreed with the PMO's suggestion that IIMs need not seeks government’s help for regulatory changes.

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