New Delhi, Nov. 13: The government’s decision to allow IIMs to top up the salaries of their directors and faculty from their own funds will create a caste system within elite institutions, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Gwalior, chairperson M.N. Buch has said in a letter to the Prime Minister.

The retired civil servant described the decision as a “compartmentalised approach” which would create the impression that the stature of professors and directors of IITs, IISERs and IIITs was lower than that of their counterparts in the IIMs.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal had convened a meeting of the IIM directors and chairpersons on October 13 where it was decided that the B-schools could top up the salary of directors and faculty who are exceptionally good. However, the additional money would have to come from their own kitty. This decision is aimed at attracting the best faculty to the institutes.

The IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta and Lucknow do not depend on government grants since they generate enough funds from student fees, consultancy and executive development programmes. IIM Indore and IIM Kozhikode are also inching towards self-sufficiency. However, the new IIMs are completely dependent on government funding.

The top four IIMs will, therefore, be able to give a higher package than the IIMs at Indore and Kozhikode. The new institutes will have to stick to the salary prescribed by the government and will not be able to get good faculty, Buch said in his letter dated October 25, a copy of which is with The Telegraph.

“But what about new IIMs which have been set up? They have no source of funding except the government. Many of them are located in places where industrial cluster is poor and in any case it will be many years before their alumni are in a position to invest in their alma mater,” he wrote.

The government is in the process of setting up six new IIMs in Raipur, Rohtak, Ranchi, Trichy, Kashipur and Udaipur. While the institutes at Ranchi, Raipur and Rohtak started operations this year, the rest are expected to open next year. An IIM was set up in Shillong two years ago.

“Within the same system if we have three categories of institutes, how can there be either parity or equity? Even the older IIMs are institutes set up through public funding and certainly their entire infrastructure is paid for by the government. Even if they have now been able to raise funds which make them independent of revenue account funding by government, they still remain institutions in the public domain, established by the taxpayer and accountable to him. We cannot create a new caste system within institutions which, on paper, are all supposed to be equal,” Buch wrote.

Buch also questioned the high fee structure in the older IIMs which charge about Rs 6 lakh in annual fees.

“Why should institutions in the public domain cater only to the rich? I raise this question because the Constitution through its Preamble and Articles 14, 38, 39 and 41 mandates social justice and equity as a duty of the state. Any IIM which tries to deny this because it no longer receives state grants on revenue account should first be made to pay the cost of its capital assets created through state funds, but at current prices, as also refund the amount cumulatively paid as a grant on revenue account. If this attitude is taken by the state then I am certain that the richer IIMs will think twice before they declare unilateral independence,” he wrote.

The move to allow the IIMs to top up salaries of directors and faculty will affect the spirit of the teachers in IITs, IIITs, IISERs, and NITs, Buch said.

“The IITs and the four Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) are top-level research institutions apart from being institutions of high-quality technical education…. Unless we make the pay structure of the IITs and IIITs at least level with the proposed pay structure of IIMs, how do we expect good teachers to be available for education and research in technology? … would you consider a person of the stature of Prof S.G. Dhande (Director, IIT Kanpur), Prof. Damodar Acharya (Director, IIT Kharapur) or Prof. S.G. Deshmukh (Director, IIIT Gwalior) to be less than the director of an Indian Institute of Management?” he asked.

Buch said topping up the salary of IIM faculty would imply that management is more important than technology, social sciences, natural sciences or humanities, and demanded a holistic approach for all institutions.