Institutes doing well must be left alone: Naik on IIM-A autonomy

IIM-A Board to announce acting director by Wednesday

Making his opposition to the draft IIM Bill clearer, AM Naik, chairman of the Board of Governors (BoG) at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) said here on Saturday that the institute should be kept out of the Bill's purview.

 

"As per the amendment in MoA we are autonomous. There has been talks about Parliament bill which will have an overall government umbrella type of facilitation which we have as a society opposed; as also the faculty and BoG have opposed. We have given our representation in writing. I think it will meet with some considerations. The institutes which are doing exceedingly well must be left alone," said Naik on the sidelines of the institute's 48th convocation. 

 

Confirming the end of Samir Barua's extended term as IIM-A's director on March 31, 2013, Naik said that the institute will announce the name of an acting director on Wednesday.

 

"They (MHRD) are going to decide hopefully next week. Our committee has done its job. As for the acting director, we will tell you on Wednesday. Today's board meeting covered all the issues that come up from time to time. Today's major subject was today's convocation in the BoG meeting as well as IIM-A Society (meeting)," said Naik. 

 

Meanwhile, in what is his last convocation address, IIM-A director Samir Barua said, "The institute was dealing with a double change of guard at the top (last year). A situation of this nature is always fraught of uncertainty for any organization. In such circumstances, key stakeholders are expected to assume the responsibility for orderly functioning. No single stakeholder can and should insist that its view be the one that dictate decisions. It is indeed heartening that despite the din created in the background, instigated by a small section of one stakeholder, the Board acted with restraint and lent credence to the new found status of the institute being a board managed entity."

 

Barua, whose six-year term as director ended on November 7, 2012, was extended twice from November till February and then from February till March in the wake of the search committee's failure to finalise a name as Barua's successor. The BoG has sent names of three contenders for the post of IIM-A director including Ashish Nanda of Harvard University, IIM-A faculty members Rakesh Basant and G Raghuram to the MHRD and is awaiting the department's response.