IIM Calcutta’s in-charge director Sahadeb Sarkar has stepped down abruptly, the third director to quit before ending their term in the last three years, amid a running battle between the board of governors and the directors.

Saibal Chattopadhyay has taken over as in-charge director, according to the B-school’s website. Institute sources said Sarkar had resigned as he was unhappy with
certain decisions of the board of governors, chaired by Shrikrishna G. Kulkarni.

Sarkar had assumed charge as in-charge director in November last year after regular director Uttam Kumar Sarkar resigned in August 2023, three years before
his five-year tenure was to end. Before him, Anju Seth, then regular director, had resigned in March 2021, a year before the end of her tenure.

It is learnt that all three directors had been unhappy with the board's style of functioning. Seth had complained to the human resource development ministry (now education ministry) against the board chairman for allegedly infringing on her executive powers. She had complained about being sidelined in the drafting of regulations on several key areas.

Uttam Kumar Sarkar was said to be unhappy with Kulkarni's alleged interference in day-to-day affairs, which the director is supposed to handle. The board chairperson is meant to provide overall guidance.

Sahadeb Sarkar, who would have continued till a regular director was appointed, has handed over charge to Chattopadhyay. It is learnt that he was displeased with Kulkarni for allegedly blocking several proposals, including four candidates he had recommended for appointment as deans. The institute's existing two deans are continuing on extension.

The regulations of the institute, approved by the board of governors and the ministry, provide for four deans. When Uttam Kumar Sarkar was director, he had initiated the process of selecting them but could not complete it. Sahadeb Sarkar completed the process and sent the names to the board, but Kulkarni did not agree.

The institute got a plot of land in New Town from the state government about five years ago. But it has not decided how to use it. Sahadeb Sarkar is learnt to have favoured the development of infrastructure there so that a one-year executive MBA programme could be offered. However, no progress has been made.

IIM Calcutta offers a lower pay scale while recruiting faculty members compared with IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore. The institute's hostel buildings and campus roads are in poor condition. Institute sources said slabs of concrete kept falling from the older buildings at the institute, constructed around the 1970s. They are apparently not maintained well.

In the last six years, several senior faculty members have either resigned or gone on lien to other institutions.

Those who resigned include Indranil Bose, who joined the NEOMA Business School in France; Partha Ray, who joined as director of the National Institute of Bank Management in Pune; Sougata Ray, who joined the Indian School of Business as Thomas Schmidheiny Chair professor; Preetam Basu, an associate professor who joined the Kent Business School in the UK as a senior lecturer; Sebastian Schwecke, a visiting professor; and Surajit Chakravarty and Smeeta Mishra, both associate professors on contract.

The appointments of associate professors on contract has been going on for several years at the B-school. The administration had questioned the validity of the appointments of some of these faculty members, leading to the resignation of at least two of them despite very good feedback from the students.

The 1996-98 batch of the institute held a meeting on the campus last month. They have raised funds for the development of the campus but are unable to decide how to spend the sum in view of the running battle between the chairperson and the directors.

The Telegraph sent an email to IIM Calcutta’s chief administrative officer, Alok Chandra, with a copy marked to Manish Thakur, dean (new initiatives and external relations), to understand the institute's perspective on the board chairman's alleged interference in day-to-day affairs.

"IIMC denies such one-sided malicious allegations," Thakur responded.

To a question about the reasons why IIM Calcutta offered a lower pay scale, Thakur wrote: "IIMC follows MoE, GoI (Ministry of Education, Government of India) rules on pays and allowances in totality."

Asked about the reasons behind the board's inability to decide how to use the land allotted to IIM Calcutta, Thakur wrote: "IIMC is seized with the matter and work is in progress."

On the reason behind the board disagreeing with the choice of the four candidates for appointment as deans, Thakur wrote: "The tenure of current Deans is till Convocation 2024."