Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, August 8: The Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was approved and passed by the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. It dilutes the autonomy of the top business schools by entrusting the President of India accountability of the management institutes.
A voice vote was used to approve the bill. Earlier the Lok Sabha approved the Bill on August 4.
The Indian Institutes of Management Act of 2017 is being amended by this bill. Every Institute covered by the Act is designated to have the President of India as a Visitor.
The Board of Governors currently appoints the Director of an IIM based on the suggestions of a Search-cum-Selection Committee. The Board must first get the Visitor’s consent before appointing an Institute Director, according to the Bill. The central government will specify the selection process for the Director.
The search committee currently consists of the Board Chairperson and three members chosen from among prominent industrialists, educationists and administrators. The Bill eliminates one of these three members and replaces it with another who will be nominated by the Visitor.
The Bill proposes a new process for investigations against IIMs. It grants the Visitor the ability to inquire. The Visitor may designate individuals to examine any Institute’s activities and conduct enquiries into its operations.
The Visitor may make decisions that are binding on the Institute based on the results of these inquiries. The Board might also advise the visitor to conduct such inquiries.
The central government may specify the conditions and process for dissolving or suspending a board of an institute, according to the Bill. A temporary board will be established by the central government in the event that a Board is suspended or dissolved for a period of six months or until a new Board is established.
Currently, the Act provides for an institute-wide coordination forum, the chair of which is chosen by a search and selection committee. The Visitor will propose the Chairperson, according to the Bill’s provisions.
The Forum currently consists of four Institute Chairpersons who have been appointed by the Chairperson and will serve two-year terms in rotation. The Bill modifies this to state that all Institute Chairpersons will be ex-officio members of the Forum.
The National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, is classified as IIM, Mumbai by the Bill.
