Students come out of the XIMB campus in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 8: Authorities of the Xavier Institute of Management have decided to call it quits after unsuccessfully chasing the dream to become a university.

The proposal to convert the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), into a university was mooted in 2009 and a detailed project report sent to the higher education department that year was immediately approved. However, when the file moved to the law department for scrutiny and final clearance, the officials spotted several loopholes in the project.

According to procedure, an institute that is supposed to be upgraded to a university requires to de-affiliate itself from the varsity of which it is currently a constituent member. Only then it can be accorded a separate university status.

The XIMB is part of the Jesuit Society, which has colleges and universities across the world, prominent among which are Georgetown University in Washington DC and Boston University.

“We asked XIMB authorities for details of affiliation to a university. But, they said they were neither under any university nor under the University Grants Commission (UGC) that governs all universities in the country. So, there was no way we could approve the project as universities in India can be created only under the UGC Act,” a senior official of the law department said.

Besides, courses run by the institute and certificates are not being conferred by any varsity under the UGC as a result of which the department could not okay the project, he added.

When the law department asked the XIMB authorities to furnish proof of clearance from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), they were unable to do so, the law department official said. “They informed us that they did not have an AICTE approval since their institute was set up on forestland and clearance from the ministry of environment of forests was pending,” said the official.

XIMB director Father P.T. Joseph said when the state government had allotted them the land in 1989, the documents only mentioned that it was for the purpose of setting up an institute. “We neither knew nor tried to cross-check if it was forestland. It has been about 25 years of our existence here and now they are questioning our credibility,” he said.

The institute authorities had stated in their proposal about possession of 35 acres near Pipili taken on lease from the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation for 90 years. However, the law department has raised questions on the legitimacy of the lease deed.

“The corporation can provide land only for the purpose of industrial use and the XIMB was in no way an industry,” said an official, adding that the endowment fund of Rs 3 crore mentioned in the proposal was meagre for a university as per a Supreme Court ruling of 2005.

These hurdles have now left the institute authorities crestfallen. “The XIMB is recognised for its excellence in imparting management education. We have also continued to keep our commitment of reserving 33 per cent seats for domiciled candidates. But, we have been receiving regular queries from the government since the day we sent our proposal. This is very harassing and we are very hurt by the law department’s behaviour. We have stopped pursuing the project,” Joseph said, adding that he has decided to step down from the institute next month.

Sources in the higher education department, however, said chief minister Naveen Patnaik and chief secretary B.K. Patnaik were keen about the project becoming a reality and planning to send the proposed bill for approval of the state cabinet in the winter.

An educator said “insensible actions on the part of the law department” would result in a huge loss for Odisha.