Up in arms against certain provisions of the controversial IIM draft bill, IIM Ahmedabad director Ashish Nanda today voiced concern over erosion of "autonomy", an issue on which five other directors have closed ranks.
Nanda, who had criticised the bill, fearing it could be used as a tool to "micro-manage" the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs), warned that there could be an adverse fallout on IIM standards if certain freedom was not granted.
"The message is hold us accountable for our performance, but allow us enough autonomy so that we can realise our shared dreams.
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"Wherever regulations comes, that means you have to take central government's prior approval and that ranges from selection of chairman right down to things like how many new departments you should have," he said.
"If the bill turns out to be that a lot of decisions by the boards are subject to government approval, and the government has uniform norms, then that may or may not be best thing for certain IIMs," said IIM Bangalore Director Sushil Vachani.
Besides IIM-A, directors of Kolkata, Lucknow, Bangalore, Kozhikode and Indore have opposed the bill while chiefs of some of the new IIMs have supported it.
The draft says the IIMs will be "bound" by government's directions in policy matters.
"Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this Act, the Institute (IIMs) shall, for efficient administration of this Act, be bound by such directions on questions of policy, as the Central Government may give in writing to it from time to time," it says.
It also states that the IIMs will need the approval of the Ministry before notifying any changes in fee structure, salary and remuneration and admission criteria.
"To be globally excellent, you need to have a certain amount of autonomy-you need to have certain resources, support of the government and leadership.
The bill also provides for constitution of a coordination forum chaired by the HRD minister.
