Round One in PIL on IIM goes to the govt

The first round of the legal bout over IIM fee reduction went in favour of HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi as the Supreme Court today echoed his view that the centres of excellence in management education ‘‘should not be accessible only to the elite.’’

For all the urgency it displayed in fixing an early hearing on its own, the court adjourned the PIL to February 27 without issuing a notice to the Government to justify its February 5 order slashing the fee of the six IIMs by 80 per cent from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 30,000.

Instead, the bench headed by Chief Justice V N Khare subjected the three petitioners to an array of questions ranging from their credentials to file the PIL to the basis on which the IIMs are currently charging an annual fee of Rs 1.50 lakh.

The court indicated that it would proceed further with the PIL only after the petitioners reverted with details of the basis on which so much fees was being charged, the grants the IIMs get from the Government and their balance sheets for the last six years.