PM-led Appointments Cabinet Committee appoints directors for 10 IIMs

IIM-A faculties G Raghuram, Dheeraj Sharma to helm IIM Bangalore, IIM Rohtak

Centre on Friday notified appointments of directors at 10 Indian Institutes of Management at Bengaluru, Bodh Gaya, Sirmaur, Visakhapatnam, Tiruchirappalli, Nagpur, Sambalpur, Raipur, Rohtak and Ranchi.

IIM-Ahmedabad faculty members G Raghuram and Dheeraj Sharma have been appointed directors of IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Rohtak, respectively.  IIM-Lucknow faculty Shailendra Singh would head IIM-Ranchi.

The notification also mentioned an "ex-post facto approval for acceptance of resignation" of former IIM-Bangalore Director Sushil Vachani with effect from April 1, 2016.

In case of the IIMs at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the appointments panel informs the respective chairpersons of the board who in turn issues the appointment letters. For other IIMs, the Ministry of Human Resource Development issues appointment letters.

Others appointed as directors include Ganesan Kannabiran for IIM-Bodh Gaya, Neelu Rohmetra for IIM-Sirmaur, Chandrasekhar Mylavarapu for IIM- Visakhapatnam, Bhimaraya Metri for IIM-Tiruchirappalli, L S Murty for IIM-Nagpur, Mahadeo Prasad Jaiswal for IIM-Sambalpur and Bharat Bhasker for IIM-Raipur.

Raghuram said he had not received the formal communication but looked forward to "institution building" now. "So far I have been largely involved in academics as well as policy practice. It is now a stage where I could look at institution building. Also, it would be at a time when the new IIM Bill will come out, wherein whatever the institutions are doing will now need to be documented properly under the Bill, which is a step in the right direction. IIM-Bangalore is well established and can be taken further up," said Raghuram, adding that the one learning he would take from Ahmedabad was to "listen to the faculty".

"This is because ultimately it's the faculty who are at the front, delivering for the academic institution," said the IIT-Madras and IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus.

Talking about his appointment, faculty at IIM-A Dheeraj Sharma said, "I haven't received any order so far but my goal at whichever institution I go will be to develop a niche for that particular institution. A niche under which it can be globally recognised for that domain and excel in that core area."

The appointments come at a time when the IIM Bill has been placed in Parliament by Human Resource Minister Prakash Javadekar. The Bill looks to grant greater autonomy by declaring the premier B-schools as institutes of national importance, thereby empowering them to grant degrees and their board of governors to appoint chairpersons and directors on their own.