The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, which was engaged in a row with the Vajpayee government over the fee structure, has expressed hope that the next government at the Centre will "provide greater autonomy and restore its status" as a premier business management institute.

"I hope the new government will give back the autonomy that the IIMs enjoyed till the fee issue cropped up, and that the institutes' status as a top business management institute is retained," IIM-A Director Professor Bakul Dholakia told PTI.  

Professor Dholakia said he hoped the emergence of a new government would help in "solving" the vexed fee cut issue, from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 30,000 per annum, that became a raging controversy with stiff opposition led by Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. 

When asked if the institutes' problems would be solved if Congress President Sonia Gandhi is chosen as the next prime minister, Professor Dholakia said, "The initiatives of opening up the market in all sectors in India and liberalisation of trade was made by the Congress and especially by the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. I feel that despite who the prime minister will be, it is the Congress as a party that will follow what its leaders started years ago."

"Between 1961 and 1991 the IIMs enjoyed absolute autonomy and still ensured that the needy students always got admission," Professor Dholakia said. "It is only in the last two years that its functioning was questioned and we hope these doubts about its working are cleared." 

He said he admired the HRD minister's "objective" -- of providing good education to the poorest of poor -- when he
demanded the IIMs fee-cut, and added "it was the methodology of implementing this that was not right." 

Citing "poor communication" between the IIMs and the HRD ministry as the main reason for the 'controversy,' Professor Dholakia said, "The former ministry did not analyse the hard data it had about the institutes' past performance and that is what created the confusion."

"There was hardly any interaction directly with the minister. All the six IIM directors got a chance to meet the minister only once during this entire episode. Hopefully things will be different now," the IIM-A director said.