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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

11/11/23 21:31 PM IST

Govt identifies three grounds to dissolve IIM Boards

In News
  • THE GROUNDS under which the Government of India will get to invoke powers to dissolve the board of any Indian Institute of Management are likely to be: i) persistent disobeying of its orders, ii) public interest and iii) inability of the board to perform its duties.
Board of Governors
  • The Board of Governors is the highest decision-making body in an IIM, and the government acts through the Visitor of the IIMs, who is the President of India.
  • Earlier, only the Board of Governors in an IIM had the powers to audit the functioning of the institute and remove or appoint directors.
  • The Union government had little say in the matter.
  • This changed three months ago when the Ministry of Education amended the IIM Act to assert more authority over the business schools, including giving itself powers to dissolve an IIM Board.
  • The amendment to the IIM Act granted the President the authority to remove the director of an IIM, the Rules are expected to explicitly state that the institute’s Board is obligated to follow the decision of the Visitor in this regard.
Qualifications of IIM Director
  • The candidate or applicant for the position of an IIM Director should possess a first-class degree at both the Bachelor’s and Master’s levels, in addition to a Ph.D or an equivalent qualification.
  • Currently, under the unamended Rules, an IIM Director’s academic credentials are described as “a distinguished academic with a PhD or equivalent”.
  • Now, the President, in her capacity as Visitor, has the power to appoint the Chairperson to the Board of Governors and the director of the institute and nominate an individual to the search-cum-selection committee for the position of Director, giving the government a say in these crucial appointments.
Indian Institute of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023
  • Under the Act, the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of each Institute is appointed by the Board. The Bill amends this to provide that the Chairperson of the Board will be nominated by the Visitor.
  • The Act empowers the Board to initiate an inquiry against an Institute if it has not been functioning in accordance with the Act. A retired High Court judge conducts such inquiries. Based on its findings, the Board may take any action that it deems fit. The Bill removes all these provisions, and proposes a new procedure for inquiries. It confers the power of inquiry upon the Visitor.
  • The Bill provides that the central government may prescribe the conditions and procedure for dissolving or suspending an Institute’s Board. If a Board is suspended or dissolved, the central government will constitute an interim board for six months or until a new Board is constituted.
  • The Act provides for a Co-ordination Forum for all the Institutes. The Chairperson of the Forum is selected by a Search-cum-Selection Committee, constituted by the Forum. The Bill amends this to provide that the Chairperson will be nominated by the Visitor.
  • The Act provides that when an existing institution converts to an IIM under this Act, every employee of such institution will retain the same tenure, salary, pensions as before. The Bill excludes the Director of such institutions from this provision.
Source- Indian Express

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