IIMA rejects govt cash

An extraordinary meeting of the board of governors of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), chaired by Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, decided today to refuse the Rs 10-crore Central grant in order to safeguard its autonomy.

The official line, however, is that the board has decided to refuse the grant so that the money can be meaningfully utilised in some other project and to give "other institutes a chance".

There has been an underlying sense of discomfort at the IIMA ever since Human Resources Development Ministry had started raising questions about the IIMA fee structure and grant even before the CAT paper leak.

In September, Human Resources Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi had said: "With the IIMs charging Rs. 1.5lakh annuallly from each student for two years, why do they need a grant?"
The ministry had wanted to reduce the fee to Rs 50,000 and freeze the assests of richer IIMs at Rs 25 crore. the CAt paper leak gave another reson to the ministry to try and get some say in the running of IIMs, much to the chagrin of the IIM officials.

After the board meeting, Indira Parikh, dean of IIMA, said, " There were some queries from the ministry of Human Resources development about the funds given by the Centre. We were asked why the fund should be given if the IIMs are self-sufficient.  We had put the query before the board and they have decided that since this money can be used more meaningfully in some other project, we will refuse it.  But, we have not yet formally refused the grant."

However, Parikh said, "Our relations with Human Resources Development Ministry are  40 years old.  Our Path of autonomy does not mean braking away from them.  As IIM has matured as an institution now, we are just redefining the relationship.  We are self sufficient and should come out of the aegis of grants to give institutions a chance."

After the CAT paper leak last month, the Human Resource Development Ministry had appointed an inquiry commission to go into the matter, even when a CBI investigation was already on.

Throughout the enquiry,  which is yet to be concluded,  IIMA director Bakul Dholakia had maintained that IIMs are independent and will conduct all examinations themselves as they have "better level of intelligence to conduct such an exam and choose the cream of the students."