Centre’s Bill dilutes autonomy of IIMs, President is Visitor

The Visitor will also have the power to appoint the Chairperson to the Coordination Forum of the institute, as per the Bill.

The Visitor would also be empowered to set up an inquiry against the institute in case of suspected irregularities, and remove the institute’s director, besides allowing the central government to “constitute an interim Board in case of suspension or dissolution of the said Board of Governors.” While the central government does not have any power at present to order the IIMs on any matter, the amendments make it so that any directive from the Ministry of Education would have to be implemented by the institute.

This is the second attempt by the union government at curbing the autonomy granted to the 20 premier Business-schools. In December 2020, The Indian Express had reported on how the Education Ministry had a draft executive order with the Law Ministry with a proposal to empower the Government to initiate an inquiry against the Board of Governors of an institute if it’s ostensibly found to be acting in contravention of the Act. The proposal was eventually shot down by the Law Ministry as it went against the grain of the IIM Act.

These developments come five years after the IIM Act came into effect on January 31, 2018, giving sweeping powers to all 20 business schools, including appointment of directors, chairpersons and Board members. Earlier, the director was appointed by the board but with the prior approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister.

In September 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, referring to the autonomy granted to IIMs, had said, “Sarkar kahin nahi aayegi, koi babu aakar nahi baithega (Government will not interfere, no officer will have any role).”

However, since then, the Government and the IIMs have been at odds on a range of issues, including the one-year MBA degree rolled out by the institutes.

In July 2020, the Education Ministry red-flagged the one-year executive MBA degree, saying it is “not in accordance with the UGC Regulations”. However, the IIMs defended their decision and continued to run the programme.