Pankaj Chandra steps down as IIM-B director

Devanath Tirupati takes over for interim

The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, is set to see a change of guard as Pankaj Chandra, Director of IIM, Bangalore, stepped down on Tuesday after his extended term came to a close.

Chandra has been at the helm of affairs at the IIM-B from December, 2007.

Devanath Tirupati, Dean-Academic, IIM-B, will take charge till further intimation from the chairman and board of governors of the IIM-B.

Tirupati has a BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; PGDM from IIM Calcutta, and a PhD from the Sloan School of Management, MIT.

Chandra, a professor in production and operation management, did his bachelors in technology from the Banaras Hindu University and a PhD from the Wharton School.

He taught at IIM-Ahmedabad as well before IIM-Bangalore and specialises in subjects like supply chain coordination, manufacturing management, technology networks and building technological capabilities in manufacturing.

Over the possible delays in the IIM-B getting a new director, sources from the institute said that this is a common issue with all major institutions and is a global phenomena. “It’s nothing to be perturned about,” he added.

To deal with this long-standing problem, the HRD ministry had last month decided to establish a collegium of scholars that would prepare a directory of academics to fill up top positions such as that of vice-chancellors or heads of institutions of the central educational institutions.

There are over a 100 such autonomous educational institutions under the HRD ministry. Earlier, the provision of having a collegium was part of the National Commission for Higher Education & Research Bill. With the bill being passed by the Parliament looking remote, the ministry decided to get an ordinance passed on the same.

Under the process envisaged, once the collegium prepares the directory, the UGC would recommend a panel of three names from the list whenever the HRD ministry or any of the said institutions ask it to do so.

Last month, a selection committee, under the HRD minister met to finalise the first fellows of the collegium of scholars. Pankaj Chandra himself is part of the committee.

Among the other members of the selection committee are UGC chairperson Ved Prakash, AICTE chairperson S S Mantha, education secretary Ashok Thakur, former IISc director Goverdhan Mehta and M M Sharma, chairman, of standing committee of the IIT Council.