The battle between the Indian Institutes of Management and the HRD ministry appeared to escalate on Thursday with the ministry said to be contemplating "a look" into the entire gamut of functioning of all the six IIMs in the country.

"We will tell them to make proper bylaws for their (IIMs) proper functioning," official sources said in the backdrop of a tussle between the ministry and the IIM-Ahmedabad over reduction of fees for the admission to the prestigious B-schools.

The IIM Controversy: Complete Coverage

It is understood that the ministry is thinking on those lines after it noticed that the Society which manages the running of IIM-A did not maintain proper records for the fee hike all these years and enrolment of members to the society.

Barring Kozhikode and Indore, the two relatively new IIMs, the sources said that four IIMs at Kolkata, Bangalore and Lucknow besides Ahmedabad had no bylaws all these years.

Asserting that the Memorandum of Association gave the central government powers to take over the administration of the institution, the sources said that the efforts of the government were aimed at streamlining the system so that everyone followed the rules.

The sources said records available showed that the IIM-A society had never made any bylaws amending the fee structure, implying that the increase of fees over years was "illegal".

They said that reduction of fees was on the agenda of a meeting held way back in June 19, 2000 and the issue was debated for four years.

On the issue of membership of the society, the sources said that it had reached a level of 150 members at present and it was despite the sharp rise in the membership fees from

Rs.25,000 earlier to lakhs of rupees now. "So many amendments were carried out in the running of the IIMs without the government's permission," sources added.

A meeting between the ministry and IIM-A society on Wednesday in Ahmedabad witnessed fireworks when two representatives of the ministry who, as ex-officio members of the society, reportedly threatened to dismiss the Board of Governors over the fee cut issue.