The Hindu : Joshi has been misled, says Narayanamurthy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 30, 2004

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National

Joshi has been misled, says Narayanamurthy

NEW DELHI, MARCH 29. The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) chairman, N.R. Narayanamurthy, today said the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, had been ``misled'' and ``misadvised'' on the entire IIM issue and that the controversy is about autonomy to the institutes and not about fee-cut.

``You can't take a decision (on fee cut) and then say I will appoint a committee to look into the impact. I think Dr. Joshi is a very good man... He has been a professor, an academician. He understands the problems of the faculty members. It is just that he has been misled and misadvised. I have no doubt at all that he would realise it soon,'' Mr. Narayanamurthy told reporters on the sidelines of a book release function here.

Asked if the IIM-Ahmedabad would be among those who filed the public interest litigation petition in the Supreme Court against the fee-cut, Mr. Narayanamurthy said

``On April 2, IIM-Ahmedabad Society is meeting and will vote whether we should go to the court or not. Based on that some action will be taken''.

``The whole issue is about autonomy... it is not about fee-cut. Let's be very very clear. If you want to reduce the fee by 80 per cent then there is certain way to do it. Involve all the stakeholders, make an analysis, find out the impact of it and then take a decision,'' he said.

White paper objects to fee-cut

Meanwhile, the IIM-Ahmedabad today issued a `while paper' disapproving the Union Government's decision on the fee-cut and sought to retain its autonomy that was questioned by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

The white paper, which was prepared after several rounds of meetings held by the faculty members, and a copy of which was made available to the media here, stated that the ``institute is gravely concerned with the fee-cut and its autonomy being threatened by the HRD Ministry''. — PTI

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