New Delhi, June 3: An IIM Bangalore professor has backed out of taking over as head of the new Indian Institute of Management in Uttarakhand, setting back the process of the B-school getting a permanent campus and its own staff.
R. Srinivasan’s move comes months after Calcutta-based academic Sukanta Chaudhuri rejected his appointment as vice-chancellor of a central university because the government had not taken his consent beforehand.
Srinivasan’s reasons are different. He has written to the Union human resource development ministry that family reasons prevent him from assuming charge as the first director of IIM Kashipur, after the cabinet’s appointment committee had cleared his name.
IIM Kashipur began functioning from a makeshift compound this year and is being run entirely by the teachers and staff of its mentor institute, IIM Lucknow. The appointment of a director would have helped the government acquire the land earmarked for its campus and recruit other staff for the institute.
“The appointment letter was issued to Srinivasan but he has expressed his inability to join on family grounds. His decision has undone the efforts of the past six months,” a government source said.
In March this year, the ministry had egg on its face when Chaudhuri declined the post of vice-chancellor of the English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad. But while Chaudhuri had been “appointed” without being called to an interview, Srinivasan had appeared in an interview before a search panel on March 5.
The search committee recommended two names, and the cabinet appointments committee approved Srinivasan’s candidature. The ministry is yet to decide whether it should now send the name of the other short-listed candidate to the cabinet committee, or whether it should start the selection process all over again by setting up a new search panel.
IIM Kashipur is the latest among the new IIMs launched in the past two years. Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal had laid the foundation stone for the institute on May 3.
The government opened new IIMs at Trichy, Raipur, Rohtak and Ranchi last year, and at Udaipur and Kashipur this year. Janath Shah took over as the first director of IIM Udaipur yesterday.
R. Srinivasan’s move comes months after Calcutta-based academic Sukanta Chaudhuri rejected his appointment as vice-chancellor of a central university because the government had not taken his consent beforehand.
Srinivasan’s reasons are different. He has written to the Union human resource development ministry that family reasons prevent him from assuming charge as the first director of IIM Kashipur, after the cabinet’s appointment committee had cleared his name.
IIM Kashipur began functioning from a makeshift compound this year and is being run entirely by the teachers and staff of its mentor institute, IIM Lucknow. The appointment of a director would have helped the government acquire the land earmarked for its campus and recruit other staff for the institute.
“The appointment letter was issued to Srinivasan but he has expressed his inability to join on family grounds. His decision has undone the efforts of the past six months,” a government source said.
In March this year, the ministry had egg on its face when Chaudhuri declined the post of vice-chancellor of the English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad. But while Chaudhuri had been “appointed” without being called to an interview, Srinivasan had appeared in an interview before a search panel on March 5.
The search committee recommended two names, and the cabinet appointments committee approved Srinivasan’s candidature. The ministry is yet to decide whether it should now send the name of the other short-listed candidate to the cabinet committee, or whether it should start the selection process all over again by setting up a new search panel.
IIM Kashipur is the latest among the new IIMs launched in the past two years. Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal had laid the foundation stone for the institute on May 3.
The government opened new IIMs at Trichy, Raipur, Rohtak and Ranchi last year, and at Udaipur and Kashipur this year. Janath Shah took over as the first director of IIM Udaipur yesterday.
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