Amid debates over the proposed fee reduction by the Indian Institutes of Management, there were indications that IIM-Calcutta may announce a slash in its fee structure on April 3.

"Nobody had objected to the fee slash at the meeting of the board of governors. Some of the members voiced concern on whether it will affect the autonomy, but there is no logic behind that argument," S K Dube, a government nominee at the IIM-Calcutta board, told reporters in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Dube, also the Director of IIT, Kharagpur, said the Chairman of the IIM-C board Y C Deveshwar, who has been authorised to draft a resolution on the issue, was likely to submit the report at the next meeting on April 3.

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Dube, who "strongly supported" a fee cut, as proposed by the government, asserted that "there is no relation between academic excellence and fees."

He also dismissed apprehensions that fee reduction might affect the autonomy of the institute. "How can autonomy be related to fee slash? It has no logic."

Referring to the Indian Institutes of Technology, he said despite getting huge government funds, "all IITs are autonomous. If there was any interference, our excellence would have been affected."

Earlier, a member of the IIM-Calcutta governing board said that although there were two extreme positions taken in course of the board meeting on March 26, government nominees assured them of non-interference in the functioning of the institute.

He said that the board had authorised Deveshwar to word a resolution saying that the fee reduction had been accepted subject to concerns raised by the faculty.

Deveshwar, on his part, had said immediately after the meeting that the resolution would be drafted 'keeping in mind the interests of all the stakeholders.'

Asked to comment on Deveshwar's statement, Dube said the chairman would take into account the interests of students, faculty, government and the public in drafting the resolution.

On his induction to the IIM-C board shortly before the crucial meeting on March 26, Dube said: "I am a government nominee. The government asked me if I was willing to be a member on the board and I gave my consent."

The IIT-K director, who expressed his surprise at the "hue and cry" over the issue, said he would even welcome reducing the IIM-C fee further from the government proposed Rs 30,000 to about Rs 6,000 -- the amount charged by the IIT, Delhi and IIT, Kanpur for their management courses.

Drawing the instance of IITs, he said: "The IITs are charging Rs 24,000. We have enough funds to modernise our infrastructure. No IIT ever had any shortage of funds."

Ruling out any imminent hike in the fees for IITs, he said: "We rather want to reduce it. Even for this amount, many students have to take loans which creates burden for their families."