Voices of dissent

Sir — This is in response to the news report, “IIM seats go vacant” (July 12), by Basant Kumar Mohanty. It seems to have been written with a defamatory intention. Facts have not been verified, and certain claims made in the report are incorrect, resulting in a gross misrepresentation of the Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli, that has deeply hurt us.

The report claims that while 106 students have taken admission in IIM Shillong, which has 120 seats, “84 have enrolled in IIM Trichy, leaving 36 seats still vacant”. However, during a meeting of the board of governors on January 3, a batch size of not more than 60 students was unanimously agreed upon, so that each student can be given the best attention and guidance. In spite of this, our institute had received an overwhelming response from deserving candidates. The number of students in the batch now stands at 84. This disproves the claim made in the article that vacant seats at IIM Trichy meant a loss of revenue and “denial of admission to ‘deserving’ students”.

According to the report, “The three IIMs, part of the seven set up in the last three years, have declared admissions closed for this year and have started classes since July 4.” However, the post-graduate programme of the first batch at the Trichy institute was inaugurated on June 15, 2011. Classes commenced on June 16, and the first mid-term examination was conducted on July 25. It is to the credit of the institute that an optional preparatory course was held from May 23 to June 10 of this year for candidates who wished to acclimatize themselves to the rigours of a management programme.

IIM Trichy would like The Telegraph to retract the report and issue an apology for the misrepresentation of facts.

Yours faithfully,
Godwin Tennyson, Chairman, Placement and External Relations, Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli

Basant Kumar Mohanty replies: The report was based on facts provided by sources in the Union human resource development ministry, as well as by officials associated with the Common Admission Test and the IIMs at Rohtak, Shillong and Trichy. These sources spoke on condition of confidentiality, and so we choose not to reveal their identities.

The HRD ministry sources said that the new IIMs can accept 120 to 140 students in a batch during the first year. These figures are backed up in the original proposal of the HRD ministry to the Union finance ministry to set up six new IIMs. The expenditure finance committee under the finance ministry approved this proposal on June 3, 2009, through File No. 8-41/2008-TSV. According to the proposal, the new IIMs can accept up to 140 students in a batch, a figure approved by the Union cabinet, chaired by the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, on August 27, 2009.

On July 6, 2011, a source at IIM Trichy said that 84 students have been given admission. If the minimum number of students to be admitted is 120, and only 84 have taken admission, then 36 seats are vacant. The decision of the board of governors at IIM Trichy to grant admission to not more than 60 students has not been made public — even the HRD ministry does not know about this decision.

Another question that remains unanswered is why IIM Trichy granted admission to 24 extra students, if not more than 60 were to be admitted.

The report was intended to highlight the phenomenon of seat vacancies in premier institutions, because of flawed admission procedures. The CAT convenor, Himanshu Rai, has confirmed on record that this has been a trend over the last few years.

Undesired holiday

Sir - I must thank The Telegraph for expressing the views of many of us in the editorial , 'False remembrance' (Aug 7). I was surprised to note that even the students of my school who, like most other schoolchildren, love the thought of an unexpected holiday , were vehemently opposed to the idea of Tagore's death anniversary being declared a holiday . Even they know that such a holiday is rarely devoted to remembering the departed. However, they love celebrating the 25th of Baisakh each year.

Anyway, knowing their school well, they did not expect a holiday but, unfortunately, this time their school did not have a choice.

Yours faithfully,
Devi Kar, Principal, Modern High School for Girls, Calcutta