The top decision-making bodies in several IIMs are functioning with scant representation from alumni and eminent individuals, as mandated by law, with the Centre looking the other way.
The boards of governors (BoGs) of IIM Trichy and IIM Kashipur have three external members against 12 positions while the BoGs of IIM Indore and IIM Shillong
have four members each. Each IIM board is supposed to have 19 members.
According to the IIM Act, 2017, the BoG is mandated to take policy decisions regarding the administration and operation of the institute, examine and approve development plans and identify funding sources to implement them, establish departments, faculties or schools of studies and initiate courses and set up centres of management studies and allied areas.
The law requires a BoG to be headed by a chairperson, who should be a distinguished industrialist, scientist or academician. The ex officio members should include a representative each from the education ministry and the state government concerned, two faculty representatives, the director, and a secretary appointed from the institute. In addition, the board has the power to nominate or co-opt up to 12 members who could be eminent individuals or alumni.
The BoG is mandated to fill the vacant posts and is supposed to meet every three months.
The lists of board members on the websites of IIMs show that none of the institutes has filled all 19 positions on their BoGs. IIM Trichy has nine members, IIM Kashipur and IIM Shillong have 10 members each and IIM Indore has 11 members.
IIM Calcutta, IIM Nagpur and IIM Bodhgaya have 12 members each, including six external members. IIM Udaipur has a 17-member BoG, including 11 external members, while IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore have 16 members each, with nine external members.
Faculty members of three IIMs said a BoG working at full strength was expected to deliberate holistically on issues raised during meetings.
“A complete BoG with people from diverse backgrounds is more competent to make holistic decisions. If the BoG is delaying in filling up the posts, the Union government should intervene. It seems the Centre is casual about this matter,” said an IIM faculty member.
The BoGs are supposed to ensure quality in any new course being launched and a truncated board cannot be expected to do justice to it, a faculty member said.
Another faculty member claimed that some chairpersons were deliberately delaying filling the posts to evade opposition to crucial issues.
“A truncated board helps some people to run the institute in the way they want. It is easy for the chairpersons to manage the internal members. That is why the external members are not being appointed,” the faculty member said.
Emails sent by The Telegraph to directors of IIM Trichy, IIM Indore, IIM Shillong and IIIM Kashipur seeking their comment on the issue are yet to elicit a response.