Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday which proposes to make the President as the Visitor of all IIMs. The Bill proposes to amend the 2017 Act so that the Visitor can nominate the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of IIMs and it empowers the Centre to constitute an interim Board in case of suspension or dissolution of Board of Governors.
At present, the Board selects the Chairperson. Experts feel that the amendments will have impact on the autonomy of IIMs and they will be governed the way Central Universities are governed. The Bill is also to change the National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai as the Indian Institute of Management, Mumbai.
In the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, Mr. Pradhan said Section 10 of the present Act would be amended to provide that “the Chairperson of the Board of Governors shall be nominated by the Visitor and to empower the Central government to constitute an interim Board in case of suspension or dissolution of the said Board of Governors.” A new Section, 10A, would be added so that the President shall be the Visitor of every Institute.
