HRD minister Smriti Irani is getting into a new trouble it seem. And this time, it is the educational center Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), a premiere educational institute of the country. According to the reports, Ministry of Human Resource Development has rejected the proposal to appoint IIMA’s nest chairman among the names suggested by the search committee.
The search committee headed by former IIMA chairman and CMD of L&T Limited Anil M Naik had given three names of business tycoons. R Sheshashayee, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Infosys, Deepak Parekh, chairman HDFC and Pawan Munjal, CMD, Hero MotoCorp, as candidates for the post of IIMA chairman.
According to the sources, “This is the first time that MHRD has dismissed the idea of appointing a chairman from a shortlist of three top-notch and powerful business personalities of the Indian corporate world.”
As a process under Memorandum of Association between MHRD and IIM, a search committee was created by the institute and after the committee has shortlisted three names the power to appoint the chairman from the names was revered with the MHRD. The Chairman of the institute oversees and solves all the policies of the educational center and helps in getting resources for smooth functioning. The chairman, who is the head of the Board of Governors gets reports from the director of IIMA.
A source who has given a reference to an email and on a condition of anonymity said, “We were all waiting to hear about the appointment of the next chairman from among the names chosen. Instead, we were informed that the shortlist did not please the top bosses. This means, the whole process of forming a search committee and shortlisting three names will have to be repeated. We came to know about it when we received an email seeking (fresh) suggestions for the next chairman”
“When we received the email suggesting more names for the chairman's post, the first thing that came to our mind was that we would soon be recommended names of businesspersons close to the BJP,” said a senior faculty member on condition of anonymity.
The senior faculty member further said, “IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore are the only two IIMs in the country where the institute has the power to shortlist the candidate and the MHRD takes the final call on appointment. At other IIMs, appointments are made by MHRD directly. So, here, when they rejected names suggested by the committee, it seemed as if they wanted a greater say in the matter.”
The four member search committee is headed by Naik who chose to step down from the post in January this year and consists Sanjay Lalbhai CMD, Arvinf Pankaj Patel, CMD, Cadila Healthcare and also appointed as IIM Udaipur chairman recently and D Shivakumar, chairman & CEO of Pepsico India Holdings.
Currently, Pankaj Patel, chairman and managing director of Cadila, a pharma giant, is interim chairman of IIMA.
By Prajakt K.
