The government is yet to appoint the directors of IIM Bangalore and IIM
Shillong despite receiving a panel of names for the posts from their respective boards of governors nearly six months ago.
The education ministry has been deliberating over the appointment of the director of IIM Nagpur for the last two months as well.
Under the IIM Act, IIM directors are appointed by the board of governors with the approval of the Visitor, the President of India. The director shall be appointed from the panel of names recommended by a search committee constituted by the board.
In March, IIM Bangalore issued an advertisement for the post and completed the process through the search panel by June. The board is learnt to have recommended three names to the ministry in the last week of June.
The process was completed before the tenure of director Rishikesha T. Krishnan ended. The board had expected that the new director would be appointed before Krishnan demitted office for a smooth transition of charge.
After the institute sent the names of the panel to the ministry, the file was learnt to be lying with education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. After Krishnan completed his term, U. Dinesh Kumar has been discharging the responsibility of the in-charge director.
Two IIM faculty members said that a full-time director has greater freedom and is expected to lead the institute by implementing major policy decisions. In-charge directors usually hesitate to take major initiatives in areas such as infrastructure expansion or recruitment. The regular director is expected to strengthen the brand value of the IIM.
“An in-charge director is always under the impression that he is there to manage the institute temporarily. On the contrary, the regular director is appointed for five years, and he comes with a clarity of mind to lead the institute in all aspects,” said a faculty member.
In the case of IIM Shillong, regular director D.P. Goyal’s term ended more than six months ago. The board is learnt to have sent the names immediately after. The IIM Nagpur board sent names in September. Prof. Bhimaraya Metri continues to remain the director despite his term ending recently.
A retired official from the ministry said that the appointment process for directors or vice-chancellors usually gets delayed before the search panel provides the names. It then takes one or two weeks for the government to obtain approval from the Visitor after getting the names from the search panel.
“In recent years, the appointments have been delayed by months — sometimes more than a year despite the search panel giving the names. There is no justification for such delays,” the retired official said.
An email has been sent to Vineet Joshi, higher education secretary, to know the reason behind the appointment delays. His response is awaited.