In a curious development, the IIM review committee that is slated to discuss the fee hike issue on April 25 at the IIM-A, will tackle another crucial issue, power to the chairman.

This is the first time in the 46-year history of the IIMs that such a point has been inserted in the terms of reference (agenda) of the review committee. As the chairman of the IIMs is a non-executive post, any recommendation of change in his role will have a bearing on the autonomy of the institute.

The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is likely to ‘defer’ the 175-per cent fee hike and other related decisions it announced recently for the 2008-10 session of the flagship, two-year Post-Graduate Programme (PGP) in Management.

Admissions were to begin on April 11 but are yet to start in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in favour of 27 per cent reservation granted recently to the OBCs, except the “creamy layers”. Now, with the possibility of the fee-hike being ‘deferred’ also emerging, it is still not clear when the admissions would begin.

The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) on Saturday decided to follow the IIMs at Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kozhikode and hike its fees from the next academic session.

The fees will go up from Rs.400,000 to Rs.700,000 for the two-year course starting later this year. The decision was taken at the board of directors' meeting here.