Union Cabinet Approves IIM Bill 2017
It is a significant approval as all IIMs have got the power to award degrees.
Finally, the Union Cabinet has approved the IIM Bill which gives statutory powers to Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and allows them to award degrees. Currently, there are 19 IIMs across the country. One of the major provisions of the draft IIM Bill 2017 is that IIM Board of Governors will have the power to get an inquiry carried out by a person not below the rank of a judge of High Court against a Director if the institute does not perform well as per the provisions of the proposed Act.
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As per the inquiry carried out, the Board will have the power to remove the Director of the institute or impose any other action that is appropriate. According to sources, the Director can be removed from his position only after the Board gives him an opportunity to be heard.
According to the sources, the Board will also have the power to evaluate the performance of IIMs after every few years. The IIM Bill was supposed to be tabled in the Parliament by HRD Ministry last year. However, the ministry felt that more discussions were needed before introducing the Bill.
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It is a significant approval as all IIMs have got the power to award degrees. HRD Ministry also wanted to grant autonomy to IIMs. Javadekar felt that apart from IIMs, top performing higher educational institutes in India need to have more autonomy and fewer regulations. On the other hand, he also wants more regulations on those institutes for which the performance is not up to the mark.