NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which entrusts the management accountability of the institutes with the president, who will be a Visitor.
The president will now have the power to audit the IIMs, India’s premier B-schools, remove directors and nominate a member in the selection committee.
Asked during a debate if the bill seeks to dilute the autonomy of IIMs in the country, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government has no intention to interfere with their autonomy.
“The management accountability of the institutes has been entrusted with the President and the academic accountability will remain with the IIMs,” he said.
Piloting the Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023, in the Lower House, Pradhan further said the government has no intention to take away the academic accountability from the institute but the Bill will only ensure its management accountability as the Centre has spent over Rs 6,000 crore in setting up the IIMs.
Under the existing dispensation, the president is also a Visitor at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs), but no questions are being raised on the academic autonomy of these institutes, Pradhan added.
The Bill, which was introduced on July 28, was passed by the Lower House by a voice vote amid disruptions by opposition members over the recent violence in Manipur.
The Bill seeks to amend the IIM Act of 2017. The president will now also have power to order probes too.
"The Visitor may appoint one or more persons to review the work and progress of any institute, to hold enquiries into affairs thereof and to report in such manner as the Visitor may direct. The board may also recommend to the Visitor an enquiry as deemed proper against the institute which has not been functioning in accordance with provisions and objectives of the Act," the Bil said.
Under the IIM Act, which came into force in January 2018 and granted the IIMs, which are 20 in number, greater autonomy, the board of governors of each institute has 19 members which includes just one representative each from the central and state governments.
The board nominates its remaining 17 members from among eminent personalities, faculty and alumni. It also appoints the search panels for the appointment of new directors and chairpersons, and later, makes the appointments if it agrees with the search panels' recommendations.
However, according to the amendment Bill, the search-cum-selection panel for the director's appointment will have a Visitor's nominee.