The Lucknow IIM campus

Shillong, Dec. 6: Barring a last-minute change in plan, the country?s seventh Indian Institute of Management (IIM) will be set up in Shillong.

The three-member committee constituted by Delhi to narrow down the list of contenders is understood to have found the picturesque Meghalaya capital the ?best location? for the prestigious institute. The panel recently submitted its report to the Union ministry for development of the northeastern region (Doner), which, in turn, forwarded it to Union human resource development minister Arjun Singh.

Shillong has been considered the frontrunner in the race since Singh publicly announced during his visit to Meghalaya in June that the institute would be set up at an ?appropriate location? within the region. Sources in the Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government claimed the Union human resource development minister conveyed Shillong?s selection to chief minister D.D. Lapang in New Delhi.

?We were always ahead in the race as Shillong continues to occupy a high position among the educational centres of the country,? a minister said.

The three-member committee that chose Shillong comprised the secretary of the human resource development ministry, his counterpart in the ministry for development of the northeastern region and the director of IIM, Calcutta.

Assam, Nagaland and Mizoram had lobbied hard for the IIM. A source in the Union human resource development ministry said Guwahati was not considered because it already has an Indian Institute of Technology.

Union minister P.R. Kyndiah, who is from Meghalaya, apparently swung the deal in Shillong?s favour. The proposed institute will initially function under one of the established IIMs. The six IIMs are in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.

During his visit to Meghalaya, Singh had made it clear that the proposed IIM was meant to be a national institution and not one exclusively for students from the region.