Committee led by PM Modi appoints directors for Ten IIMs

Filling up some of the pending vacancies at 10 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Prime Minister Narendra Modi headed Appointments Cabinet Committee (ACC) on Friday notified appointment of directors for the premier B-schools.

As per a notification by the Department of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, appointment to posts of IIM director has been made “on contract basis in the scale of pay of Rs 80,000 (fixed) plus usual allowances for a period of 05 years w.e.f. the date of assumption of charge of the post, or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years, or until further orders, whichever is the earliest”.

The 10 IIMs include Bangalore, Bodhgaya, Sirmaur, Vishakapatnam, Tiruchirappalli, Nagpur, Sambalpur, Raipur, Rohtak and Ranchi. Among these, IIM Ahmedabad faculty members G Raghuram and Dheeraj Sharma have been appointed as directors of IIM Bangalore and IIM Rohtak, while IIM Lucknow faculty Shailendra Singh would be heading IIM Ranchi.

The notification also mentioned an “ex-post facto approval for acceptance of resignation” of former IIM Bangalore director Sushil Vachani with effect from April 1, 2016.

The appointees are, however, yet to receive a formal notification. While in case of IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta, the ACC informs the respective chairpersons of the board who in turn issues an appointment letters, in case of other IIMs the respective ministry, in this case Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), will be issuing appointment letters to the appointees.

Others appointed for the position of director include Ganesan Kannabiran for IIM Bodhgaya, Neelu Rohmetra for IIM Sirmaur, Chandrasekhar Mylavarapu for IIM Vishakapatnam, Bhimaraya Metri for IIM Tiruchirappalli or Trichy, L.S. Murty for IIM Nagpur, Mahadeo Prasad Jaiswal for IIM Sambalpur, and Bharat Bhasker for IIM Raipur.

Commenting on his appointment, IIM A faculty G Raghuram said that while he had not received a formal notification, he looked forward to ‘institution building’ now.

“So far I have been largely involved in academics as well as policy practice. It is now a stage where I could look at institution building. Also, it would be at a time when the new IIM Bill will come out wherein whatever the institutions are doing will now need to be documented properly under the Bill, which a step in the right direction. IIM Bangalore is well established and can be taken further up,” said Raghuram while adding that the one learning he would take from Ahmedabad is to “listen to the faculty”.

“This is because ultimately it’s the faculty who are at the front delivering for the academic institution,” said Raghuram who is an IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus and has been part of board of several government organisations and committees.

These appointments were approved by the ACC-headed by PM Narendra Modi for a period of five years, or until the incumbents attain the age of 65. Traditionally, IIM faculty are relieved on deputation during such appointments for a period of five to six years.

Talking about his appointment, Dheeraj Sharma, faculty at IIM-A said, “I haven’t received any order so far but my goal at whichever institution I go will be to develop a niche for that particular institution. A niche under which it can be globally recognised for that domain and excel in that core area.”

The appointments come at a time when the IIM Bill has been placed in the Parliament by union human resource minister Prakash Javadekar that looks to grant greater autonomy by declaring the premier B-schools as institutes of national importance, thereby empowering them to grant degrees, as well as their Board of Governors to appoint Chairpersons and Directors on their own.

Sharing is caring!