The board of governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, decided against the a fee hike, as recommended by the faculty council, so that it might be perceived as "firm but not adamant".

Sources in the board said an adamant attitude would jeopardise the dialogue with the human resources development ministry on the issue.

The IIM Controversy: Complete Coverage

A member of the board told Business Standard, "We do not want to be seen as being adamant. But we want to remain firm on the fee issue. That is the message from our side. If the Supreme Court issues a stay on the ministry's fee cut fiat, we have to maintain last year's fees. If the court asks the IIMs to abide by the order, we have to refund excess money to the students. But if the court does not pass any stricture, we may hike the fees."

In its presentation to the IIM-A Society late on Friday, the faculty council had explained the need for a fee hike, citing rise in prices, among other things.

Also, to meet the ministry's objective of giving a chance to poor students, it put forth a proposal to enhance the corpus of need-based scholarships -- "to even cover canteen expenses of needy students, if needed".

Sources in the Society said after the faculty council moved the proposal, an urgent meeting of the faculty members was convened that ran well past midnight.

The director of IIM-A, Bakul Dholakia and the chairman of the board, N R Narayana Murthy tried to reason with the "fee hike lobby" that it would not be appropriate to hike the fees before the public interest litigation is disposed of by the Supreme Court -- and also when talks with the ministry is yet to be concluded.

In its presentation to the board, the core committee -- "the fee hike lobby "-- opined that fees should be on the basis of cost.

"What should be the fees for top-drawer management education? It should be based on costs in line with the principle laid down in the T M A Pai case. And our costs are Rs 280,000 per student. We also have to keep in mind the fees charged by the likes of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. Given all this, how can we make the course accessible to the economically weaker section of society? Only through scholarships," said its presentation, which was titled, "Sustaining Academic Excellence".

Talking to the press after the meeting, Murthy did not talk on the heated debate that went on inside. Instead, he said the emphasis of the discussions at the board meeting was on dialogues with the ministry.