An IIM rushed the reappointment of its incumbent director in just three days after the government introduced a bill wresting control of director appointments — and before the bill could be passed.

Himanshu Rai will start his second five-year term as IIM Indore director from January 1, 2024. His reappointment was decided at a board of governors meeting on July 30 and accepted by Rai the following day.

This means he was reappointed five months before his term was to expire on
December 31 — which sources described as unprecedented.

On July 28, the education ministry had introduced a bill amending the IIM Act of 2017, which gave the B-schools a degree of autonomy. The 2017 Act allowed the IIM boards to pick their chairpersons, and to select the institute directors from a panel of candidates chosen by search committees formed by the boards themselves.

But the amendment bill said the President of India would be the Visitor of the IIMs, would nominate the board chairpersons, and would have to approve the appointments of the directors. Also, the Visitor would have a nominee in the four-member search committee.

An apparently spooked IIM Indore, which had advertised for a new director in May, rushed the process before the Lok Sabha could pass the bill on August 4 and the Rajya Sabha on August 8, picking Rai for a second term under the 2017 Act.

But two other IIMs — those in Jammu and Lucknow — that too had started the appointment process for their directors consulted the education ministry after the bill’s introduction and accepted its informal advice to freeze the process.

The IIM Jammu director’s tenure was to end on October 3 this year and the IIM Lucknow director’s in April 2024. IIM Jammu had conducted the interviews too. Both restarted the appointment process under the IIM (Amendment) Act, which came into force on August 16.

“The appointment process should be transparent. There was no need to rush the process the way it was done in Indore,” the director of an IIM who did not wish to be identified said.

“Approving the reappointment of a candidate five months before the end of their tenure is unprecedented.”

The Telegraph filed an RTI application before the education ministry seeking documents such as the minutes of the July 30 board meeting at IIM Indore. The plea was transferred to the institute, which denied the document.

“The information sought is confidential in nature and would harm the competitive position of the institute and does not involve any larger public interest. Hence information sought by you cannot be provided under Section 8(1)(i), (j) and (d) of the RTI Act, 2005,” IIM Indore’s reply said.

Emails have been sent to IIM Indore’s chief administrative officer, Colonel (retd) Gururaj Gopinath Pamidi, and higher education secretary Sanjay Murthy seeking the reasons for rushing the process after the bill was introduced. Their responses are awaited.