On the sidelines, a turf war rages

As word got out that the CAT paper had been leaked, officials of the Ministry of Human Resource Development made a beeline to Union Minister...

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As word got out that the CAT paper had been leaked, officials of the Ministry of Human Resource Development made a beeline to Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi’s residence this morning.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Joshi said, ‘‘I immediately cancelled the examination and formally asked the CBI to take up the probe’’. He even ordered a departmental inquiry. It was learnt that the HRD ministry was informed by the CBI of the ‘‘lack of cooperation’’ on the part of Ahmedabad IIM.

Senior HRD officials said the Ministry was told by the CBI they were desperate to get through to IIM Ahmedabad director B Dholakia this morning. They called up his Ahmedabad residence at 7 am and informed him that they had a CAT question paper which had been leaked and wanted him to compare it with the original without delay.

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The CBI claimed Prof Dholakia said it would be impossible for him to open the office before 10 am. An IIM Ahmedabad spokesperson later said that the director had no right to unseal the questions. ‘‘Even he doesn’t have access to the sealed room in which the papers are kept.’’ And, what if the CBI was wrong?

The CBI had to wait until 11 am for the examination to get underway before they could tally the questions. After that, they rushed to Joshi who called over his officials, including joint secretary in charge of technical education, V S Pandey.

While the examination was cancelled, the Ministry took serious view of Prof Dholakia’s inability to react fast and help the CBI personnel. In fact, the departmental inquiry will be looking at this complaint regarding ‘‘late response.’’ Prof Dholakia chaired several rounds of meetings in his campus till late this evening. When contacted, he said, ‘‘I will be able to speak on the subject later.’’

Of the six IIMs, it was IIM Ahmedabad’s turn to coordinate the examination this year. By late afternoon, differences between the Ministry and a few IIM directors began to surface. The three older and more advanced IIMs — Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata — have not really been getting along with the HRD ministry. Fiercely guarding their ‘‘autonomy,’’ Dholakia, who admitted that there could be something fundamentally wrong in the CAT process and needed to be rectified immediately, insisted it was for the IIMs’ coordination committee and the six directors to decide whether the examination stood cancelled and whether and when fresh tests would be held. Dholakia agreed if there was a leak there was no question of preventing a re-examination. And even Sekhar Chowdhury, IIM Joka (Kolkata) director, told The Indian Express that he would have to consult his other co-directors before a final decision on the subject is taken in a day or two.

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This leak comes at a wrong time for the IIMs, guarding their turf against the HRD Ministry which is taking them on for their ‘‘elitist bias’’. Last Sunday, Joshi hit out at the IIM managements for charging fee as high as Rs 3 lakh for the two-year course. The ministry wants it reduced to less than Rs 50,000. The ministry also wants to freeze assets of richer IIMs at Rs 25 crore and there’s a debate underway.