Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, who is chairman of the Board of Governors of IIMs, met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi on Saturday reportedly in connection with the government's decision to reduce the fees of some course in IIMs by 80 per cent.

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He was accompanied by Hindustan Lever Limited chairman Vindi Banga, ICICI CEO K V Kamath and a member of the Board of Governors.

They were understood to have urged the prime minister to reconsider the government's decision on the ground that at a time when subsidies are being eliminated, the reduction of fees would harm the reforms process as it would amount to subsidising education for the elite. Besides, the fees reduction may also impinge on the autonomy of the IIMs as they may have to depend on the government for increased grants.

Banga told PTI from Mumbai that the half-an-hour meeting with the prime minister was 'very satisfactory'. He declined to divulge details.

"The decision to cut IIM fees is totally unnecessary and in fact a retrograde step. Anyway, a decision on fees can be taken only by the board of governors of each IIM as per their charter."

As per the Kurien Committee report, IIMs were asked to progressively delink themselves from government aid and 'become more self-reliant and that is what we are endeavouring to do. We are not asking the government for financial aid'.

Elaborating on why the proposed fee cut was unnecessary, he said, "Nobody I am aware of has been unable to study at IIMs for lack of finances. Even if 25-30 per cent students do need financial aid, we should offer solutions to only these students and not slash fees across the board."

Banga said IIMs are already providing a 50 per cent subsidy to each student since the cost per student is about Rs 300,000 whereas he is charged only Rs 150,000.

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The board is scheduled to meet sometime in March to decide on the fee slash issue but the meeting could be advanced due to the matter's urgency.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, on its own, decided to advance by a week the hearing of a PIL challenging HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi's decision to slash IIM fees in the face of widespread public criticism.

The IIM Controversy