IIM Ahmedabad's denial of lien to professor worries ministry

The recent decision of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, banning faculty members from going on loan to other IIMs - including as directors - is troubling the ministry of human resource development, according to a report in The Hindu.

For the ministry, the job of IIM director falls under the category of 'assignments of national importance'. But, on 27 March, the institute informed one of its faculty members, Shekhar Chaudhury, who sought permission to go on a five-year deputation to IIM-Calcutta as director for a second consecutive term that he would not be given a lien on his current job.

Chaudhury - who was chosen for the Calcutta post through a proper selection process - has been given the option of quitting the parent institute to take up the new assignment, the newspaper said quoting informed sources.

The decision has taken the ministry by surprise because it was not informed about it and it comes at a time when there is an acute shortage of faculty, including directors, following the addition of six new IIMs.

What is worrying the government is the fact that if a similar decision is taken by the other IIMs, there would be a staff crisis for the new institutes, which will start functioning in the coming academic session, the report said.

The IIMs at Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta are among the three first such institutes set up in the country, while the ones at Kozhikode, Lucknow and Indore are known as the younger IIMs. The IIM at Shillong has already completed one academic session and those at Tiruchi, Ranchi, Raipur and Rohtak will start their academic session this year.