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Journalism of Courage
The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, is set to join its Ahmedabad counterpart in filing an affidavit before the Supreme Court declaring that it will continue to charge an annual fee of Rs 1.5 lakh despite the Government’s order to reduce it to Rs 30,000.
And much on the lines of IIMA’s scheme, IIMB will appropriate only Rs 30,000 from the fee collected from each student. The balance of Rs 1.2 lakh taken from each student will be put in a separate account pending the outcome of the PIL against the fee cut in the Supreme Court.
This was disclosed to The Indian Express by the director of IIMB, Prakash Apte, who said that he was himself signing the affidavit which will be filed tomorrow.
IIMB’s decision to defy the fee-cut contradicts the HRD Ministry’s claim at the last hearing that five out of six IIMs had accepted the Government’s order of February 5.
Asked if the affidavit was being filed with the consent of IIMB’s chairman S M Dutta, Apte said, ‘‘I am signing the affidavit on the basis of certain powers delegated to me by the (IIMB’s) Society through the Board (of governors).’’ Thus, as of now, it seems that when the case comes up for hearing on April 16, at least two of the IIMs will officially oppose the fee cut while the faculty of IIM Kolkata filed an affidavit distancing itself from the stand taken by its chairman, Y C Deveshwar. There is also a buzz in IIM circles that the institute in Lucknow is also rethinking its pro-fee cut resolution following the Government’s refusal in the court to give an undertaking on autonomy.
