After a legal battle of over three years, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has announced that it will implement reservation in PhD admissions next year onwards based on the “government guidelines”. The institute made the announcement as it issued online applications for doctoral programmes last weekend. IIM-A was the only among the 20 premier management institutes that had not implemented the quota system for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and persons with disabilities (PWD). What is the case The clause mentioned in the online applications comes in the wake of a public interest litigation (PIL) moved in 2021 by Anil Wagde, a member of the Global IIM Alumni Network, an association of IIM graduates, seeking implementation of reservation in IIMA’s PhD programmes. These were earlier known at IIMA as the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM). The online applications, which opened September 19, will be accepted till January 20. “IIM-A was one of the last institutes when it came to implementing reservation in PhD courses. Lack of reservation in PhD courses is resulting in abysmal representation in the IIM faculty,” the IIM graduates association claimed on Tuesday. “We urge the IIM-A to follow it in spirit. There is not a single SC, ST, OBC faculty at IIMA. Last checked, there was only one Muslim faculty member recruited recently…” the association further claimed. The PIL submitted that not providing reservation in the PhD programme, which commenced in 1971, amounted to “gross violation” of constitutional provisions, Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act and the University Grants Commission’s guidelines. Why IIMA opposed it The institute opposed reservation for its PhD programme underlining that it is a “super-specialised programme”, and neither the Constitution of India nor any other law envisages reservation for courses or programmes at high levels of specialisation. One of the reasons also stated was that the intake in the programme was low. In an affidavit filed in the Gujarat High Court in November 2022, opposing the PIL, IIMA had said that the law does not mandate any reservation at “such high-level specialisation programmes,” and any such reservation “could be counterproductive and might also lead to injustice to other eligible meritorious students”. “Operational freedom” is an integral part of the “DNA of IIMA” and that there is “no illegality or breach of the provisions of the Constitution of India or other statutes…in not providing reservation in the PhD programme,” the premier management institute further submitted. It has also challenged the PIL stating that IIMA continues to be an autonomous and independent institute without any funding from the government despite being a statutory organisation under the IIM Act, 2017. The IIM Act of 2017, notified on January 11, 2018, declared IIMA and other IIMs as the “institutes of national importance”, and that each IIM “is separate, independent and autonomous body corporates”. IIMA had also stated reservation 'benefits' a candidate gets till he/she reached the research level. “Even the candidates from reserved category, by the time they reach the stage of applying for the PhD programmes, would have had the benefit of reservation policy at graduation and post graduation level courses,” the affidavit added. Smaller number of seats for PhD programmes along with no fixed number of PhD seats was also cited as one of the reasons for opposing the reservation. The change in stance On September 28,2023, IIMA said it has “voluntarily taken a decision to provide for reservations in the PhD programme also.” The affidavit stated that the IIM had decided to provide such reservation even though “as such in law, there is no requirement” for it to do so, the PhD programmes being super-specialised ones. Implementation: an uphill task The IIMA also stated that it was facing an “uphill task” in figuring out a methodology to ensure that the reservation would lead to “no discrimination to anybody”. The institute also stated that “a best suitable methodology is likely to take some time” and that “appropriate reservations will be provided in due course”, without specifying a timeline. The affidavit filed through its Chief Administrative Officer Colonel Amit Verma said that an internal committee of faculty members would be formed to work out the methodology. “Considering the peculiar circumstances and the long prevailing practice where on an average 2 to 3 students are admitted in each area of PhD programmes, the committee is facing an uphill task to provide a proper methodology. It is the endeavour of IIMA that while providing reservation there is no discrimination to anybody,” stated the affidavit. Following this, IIMA in an oral submission in October 2023, informed the Court that it would implement reservation of seats for SC, ST, OBC and PWD in the academic year starting 2025, which was thus announced in the online admission process. PhD options at IIMA IIMA offers doctoral specialisation in economics, finance and accounting, food and agri business, human resource management, information systems, innovation and management in education, marketing, operations and decision sciences, organisational behaviour, public systems and strategy. Candidates applying to these Doctoral Programme in Management are required to take the Common Admission Test (CAT) or a standard test in lieu of CAT, depending on the specialisation.
