File Photo: Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani (Press Trust of India)
Faced with criticism over the draft IIM Bill, government today indicated "reviewing" and "correcting any inconsistencies" as it sought to reach out to the prestigious B-schools, making its first reaction to the controversy surrounding the legislation.
The HRD Ministry's apparent softening of stand came on a day when HRD Minister Smriti Irani held an hour long discussion with chairperson of IIM Bangalore's board of governors Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
Accused of diluting IIMs autonomy through the draft legislation, Ms Irani said the "fallacy" surrounding the bill needed to be "dispelled" and that they have put it in public domain for views.
The government has also been accused of having some kind of control in almost every decision that the institutes take.
"We will review the bill. If there is any inconsistency, typographical error, we will correct it," Higher Education secretary VS Oberoi told reporters, flanked by both Ms Irani and Ms Shaw.
Holding that a lot of concerns concerning the bill was "clarified" and that she was "satisfied" following her hour long meeting with the Minister, Shaw said she would be talking to other IIM directors and "explaining" the provisions.
She said some of the concerns were "baseless" which needs to be "dispelled".
"We certainly want autonomy and hand in hand accountability. I think the bill has that considered. Government is trying to ensure we have an accountable structure without affecting autonomy," she said, adding "some kind of rephrasing" could address their concerns.
The bill seeks to give the IIMs the degree granting powers and convert them into institute of national importance.
In a written reply in Parliament last week, Ms Irani had said the bill "intends to ensure greater synergy and financial autonomy along with commensurate accountability in academic and financial matters of the IIMs".
Mr Oberoi said the aim is to follow the other institutes of national importance like the IITs which are "tried and tested" models.
The draft bill had come under a lot of flak from the heads of the IIMs ever since it was placed in public domain with IIM Ahmedabad being the first to come out in open against it.
"We are deeply concerned that some provisions of the bill would seriously compromise the autonomy of the institute. We believe that this is an important bill for the future of management education and therefore requires critical review to ensure an optimal balance between autonomy and accountability of the institution," IIM-Ahmedabad chairperson AM Naik had said in a letter to Ms Irani last month.
According to IIM-A Director Ashish Nanda, the government, through the bill, has proposed some kind of control in almost every decision that the institutes take.
"The draft bill proposes control of government in almost every matter such as selection of Chairman of board of Governors, fee structure, expenses, etc. They have covered almost everything from strategic to operational decisions," said Mr Nanda.
An IIM faculty member who was involved in drafting the bill, which was said to have undergone changes later, had expressed surprise seeing the final draft, saying some of the provisions were incorporated later without consultations.
In his reaction, IIM Bangalore Director Sushil Vachani had said that "if the bill turns out to be that a lot of decisions by the boards are subject to government approval, and the government has uniform norms, then that may or may not be best thing for certain IIMs."