Cost-curb hope?

New Delhi, July 8: A central committee reviewing the functioning of the Indian Institutes of Management is likely to recommend greater government control over fees charged by the IIMs, government and panel sources have said.

But the committee has ruled out a government proposal to bring the institutes under an umbrella legislation that would increase their answerability to Parliament, the sources said.

The IIMs should only raise their fees gradually and after explaining the need for the hike to the government, the committee is likely to recommend, sources on the panel and at the Centre said.

The premier B-schools were at the centre of a storm earlier this year over their decision to almost double their fees, drawing criticism from the human resource development ministry and the committee.

The committee, headed by Maruti Suzuki chairman R.C. Bhargava, is meeting tomorrow to firm up its findings, the sources said.

It is likely to submit its final report by the end of August, they added.

The IIMs have consistently spoken out against what they perceive as government interference in their decision-making process, and the recommendations could spark fresh debate over their autonomy, HRD sources said.

Earlier this year, IIMs Ahmedabad and Bangalore had announced an over 100 per cent fee hike. Other IIMs — Calcutta, Indore, Kozhikode and Lucknow — also raised their fees.

But the Bhargava committee, in an interim report on April 4, had suggested the IIMs keep the fee hike on hold. Only IIM Calcutta reversed its decision.

The recommendations of the final report, if implemented by the HRD ministry, will lead to greater control over the IIMs, the ministry sources said.

A majority of the members on the committee were unhappy with the decision by most of the IIMs to go ahead with the fee hike despite the interim report’s suggestion, sources said.

“The entire episode revealed to the committee that in the absence of any checks, the IIMs can actually raise the fees to any amount they desire. The autonomy of the IIMs is essential, but the institutes have a social responsibility, too,” a panel member said.

Most on the committee want the IIMs to increase the financial assistance offered to poor students unable to pay their fees, the sources said. “We are likely to recommend an increase in scholarships and will also suggest ways that, if adopted by the IIMs, would help students obtain education loans,” a member said.

But the sources said the panel was not thinking of introducing an IIM act on the lines of the Indian Institute of Technology Act of 1961.

The IIMs are currently registered as societies and are not legally equipped to offer degrees — they instead offer diplomas. The absence of an umbrella law also allows the IIMs, unlike the IITs, the luxury of acting independently. So, while any policy decision must be common for all IITs, the same is not true for the IIMs.

The committee was set up in October 2007 with a mandate to review the administrative set-up of the IIMs and to study whether they were fulfilling the social responsibilities with which they were set up.

Its terms of reference include examining whether the IIMs can increase their student intake with existing infrastructure to ensure greater “efficiency of resources”.

The committee’s term — initially of six-month duration — was extended in April.