New Delhi, Feb. 13: The government is likely to leave the implementation of its promise to start six new IIMs to its successor, as it has been unable to resolve disagreements with existing business schools.

Three months before the start of the 2009 academic session in B-schools, the human resource development ministry has yet to decide which, if any, of the new IIMs will be started this year.

The HRD ministry will push the cabinet to approve all six IIMs before elections are announced so that the government can claim progress on its promise, an official associated with the project said.

Even if the cabinet clears the IIMs, none may start classes this academic session. “It looks unlikely that we will be able to start any of the new IIMs this year.

Even if the cabinet clears the proposal any time soon, there are too many uncertainties given the opposition by the existing IIMs,” the official said. “What is now most likely is that the new government that comes after the Lok Sabha polls will have to implement this government’s promise.”

The UPA government, in the 11th five year plan, had announced it would set up eight new IITs and seven new IIMs.

Six of the new IITs and one IIM — in Shillong — started offering courses in the 2008 academic session. The remaining two IITs will start admitting students this year.

The six remaining IIMs are to come up in Tamil Nadu (Tiruchirapalli), Jammu and Kashmir (Srinagar), Jharkhand (Ranchi or Dhanbad), Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Haryana (Rohtak) and Uttarakhand (place not finalised).

State governments have proposed sites for the new IIMs and the HRD ministry has drafted a note for the expenditure finance committee to obtain its clearance, mandatory for approaching the cabinet.

The Rajiv Gandhi IIM in Shillong was approved by the cabinet in February 2007 but could start courses only in the 2008 academic session. “The problems we faced in starting the Shillong IIM have magnified since,” a higher education department official said.

Each of the eight new IITs is being mentored by an existing IIT, but the IIMs have refused to do the same with the new institutes that will share their brand.

In the absence of mentoring, the new IIMs will have to be set up as individual projects that normally take at least a year to start functioning, this official said.

The HRD ministry, the official said, is not keen to “take on” the IIMs just ahead of the elections.

Three IIMs have recently rejected recommendations of a ministry-appointed panel that asked the government to streamline the functioning of the institutes.

“We could have forced the IIMs to act as mentors but we do not want to take on the institutes at a politically sensitive time,” the official said.