AHMEDABAD: A tug of war between faculty members and alumni has stalled efforts to find a new director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, for the last eight months.
In the last board meeting in December, members of the governing board had stressed that the debate should conclude at some point but the search committee of five members is not reaching unanimity on a panel of three who would succeed Samir Barua, the present director who is on extension. Barua's extension ends on February 7 but there are doubts if the successor would be nominated by then.
This is for the first time in the history of IIM-A that the process of appointment of director has gone beyond the deadline. Strangely, this has happened after full autonomy was given to the board to decide on the basis of recommendations of the search committee.
Sources said the board's chairman A M Naik, who is also the chief of L&T, has been unable to resolve the dispute within the search committee. Apart from Naik, who is the chairman of the search committee, the search committee has three alumni — Rama Bijapurkar, management consultant and visiting faculty; Ashank Desai of Mastek Ltd and Hasit Joshipura of GSK Pharma. The fifth member, Sanjay Lalbhai of Arvind Group, has stopped attending meetings because he is upset with attempts by the three alumni to bulldoze their way.
Bijapurkar & Co. are against the candidature of Prof Ravindra Dholakia, who teaches economics at IIM-A and is a favourite with the faculty. His elder brother Prof Bakul Dholakia was Barua's predecessor as director.
The alumni group had tried to make out a case that it was difficult to find a director under the present salary structure — approximately Rs 30 lakh per annum, including perks and consultancy fee. They were insisting on bringing candidates from US universities who were not willing to come for pittance.
In the last board meeting in December, members of the governing board had stressed that the debate should conclude at some point but the search committee of five members is not reaching unanimity on a panel of three who would succeed Samir Barua, the present director who is on extension. Barua's extension ends on February 7 but there are doubts if the successor would be nominated by then.
This is for the first time in the history of IIM-A that the process of appointment of director has gone beyond the deadline. Strangely, this has happened after full autonomy was given to the board to decide on the basis of recommendations of the search committee.
Sources said the board's chairman A M Naik, who is also the chief of L&T, has been unable to resolve the dispute within the search committee. Apart from Naik, who is the chairman of the search committee, the search committee has three alumni — Rama Bijapurkar, management consultant and visiting faculty; Ashank Desai of Mastek Ltd and Hasit Joshipura of GSK Pharma. The fifth member, Sanjay Lalbhai of Arvind Group, has stopped attending meetings because he is upset with attempts by the three alumni to bulldoze their way.
Bijapurkar & Co. are against the candidature of Prof Ravindra Dholakia, who teaches economics at IIM-A and is a favourite with the faculty. His elder brother Prof Bakul Dholakia was Barua's predecessor as director.
The alumni group had tried to make out a case that it was difficult to find a director under the present salary structure — approximately Rs 30 lakh per annum, including perks and consultancy fee. They were insisting on bringing candidates from US universities who were not willing to come for pittance.
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