Cabinet clears IIM Bill 2017: IIMs get complete autonomy, ability to award degrees instead of diplomas

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday cleared the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) Bill 2017, which grants the institution complete autonomy and the ability to award degrees to their graduates instead of diplomas.

The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared the bill after months of back and forth between the HRD ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office over certain provisions concerning the governing of the institutes.

“The IIM Bill focuses on complete autonomy, effective administration, more alumni participation and many other areas,” Modi tweeted after the decision.

While the bill was cleared in the absence of HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, he later hailed the decision as a ‘historic one’. Once the bill is passed by the Parliament, the IIMs will also be declared as ‘Institutions of National Importance’.

At present, IIMs are registered as separate autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act. Being Societies, they are not authorised to award degrees and instead give out postgraduate diplomas and fellow programmes in management, which are not universally accepted.

10 key aspects of the Indian Institutes of Management Bill, 2017:

* The bill provides complete autonomy to the IIMs to run their affairs, while ensuring accountability.

* IIMs will be able to award degrees to their students instead of postgraduate diploma and fellow programme.

* The institutes will be managed by a Board. Each institute will have a chairperson and director which will be selected by the Board.

* To increase accountability, their performance will be reviewed by independent agencies, who will publish the results in public domain.

* The board will also have the ability to get an inquiry conducted against a director in case it feels that an institute has not performed as per the provisions of the proposed Act.

* An annual report of the IIMs, which will include an update on all research projects undertaken in the institutes, will be placed in Parliament.

* The bill has no provision for reservation in faculty jobs, but states that the recruitment policy should be inclusive. It also states that the reservation in admission for SCs, STs, and OBCs will remain as is.

* The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will audit the accounts of all IIMs.

* The bill also has a provision for a ‘Coordination Forum of IIMs’, which will act as an advisory body.

* The bill, while limiting the ministry’s involvement, allows more management experts and IIM alumni to participate in Board discussions.