The council will come up with its final set of recommendations within four weeks.

The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the IIM-C, Ajit Balakrishnan discussed the issue with the council members on February 20.

The Bhargava Committee, set up by the HRD Ministry, had strongly argued for creation of a pan-IIM Board, comprising representatives of all IIMs in the country.

The board will consist of government nominees and other imminent personalities, who will approve business plan and review performance of the IIMs.

“There was a fear among the faculty members that the pan-IIM body will control their operations. The board tried to dispel their doubt that the body is likely to be an interface between IIMs and the ministry,” said Dinesh Varma, the chief administrative officer of the IIM-C.

According to sources at the institute, the faculty members are against the creation of a pan-IIM Board saying that it will bring uniformity in the administration of the IIMs and an individual institution will no longer have its say.

Of late, premier management institutes like IIM-Ahmedabad have also rejected the proposal of setting up the board claiming that no change in the structure of IIMs is required.

Financial companies may skip IIM-C this year

With financial institutions suffering losses in the wake of economic meltdown, the high-paying jobs are likely to vanish from the IIM-Calcutta.

The first phase of the placement at the IIM-C began on February 21 and will continue till February 24. The second phase is scheduled in the first week of March. The students are likely to miss companies like Lehman Brothers and Merill Lynch and many others, which are keeping theirs purse strings tied. “Things are not as good compared to last year. We may have a lesser number of companies coming to the institute,” said a final year student.

Last year, nearly 110 companies visited the institute and recruited about 290 students. Nearly 36 per cent students got placement in financial sector and 26 percent in consulting sector.

Since the financial institutions are reeling under the meltdown, the IIM-C is expanding its base of recruiters and inviting companies of different profiles, institute’s officials pointed out.