External review of each IIM every 3 yrs

This was decided at a meeting of the IIM Council chaired by Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday.

On the decision to conduct reviews, Sibal said that although the government did not want to interfere in the functioning of IIMs, it should “have powers to interfere in cases of aberrations”.

A revised Memoranda of Association and Rules — that will give greater autonomy to the institutes — has been finalised for the IIMs in Ahmedabad and Indore while a revision for three other IIMs — in Bangalore, Kozhikode and Lucknow — is underway. Two IIMs are still to get back to the HRD ministry, sources said.

Greater autonomy would mean the IIMs would have flexibility in hiring or reviewing salaries. Five IIMs have agreed to sign the new memoranda, which is based on a report on reforms submitted by the Bhargava panel in 2010.

At the IIM Council meeting, it was also decided that the institutes would share admission information among them and post individual admission criteria in their websites to ensure that no seat in the new IIMs remains vacant and to ease the pressure on students.

Sibal said the move would ensure reduced pressure on the old IIMs in matters of admission and equal distribution of candidates. The meeting reviewed the progress made by five recently

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