IIMA changes stand, decides 'voluntarily' to extend quota in PhD programmes

Stating that although there is no legal requirement to provide reservations for SC/ST and OBC candidates in Ph.D. programs, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) has voluntarily decided to implement quotas in their doctoral programs.

"As such in law, there is no requirement for providing reservations in the Ph.D programmes, being super specialization programme in a specific branch of management, after the specialization (masters degree) in any disciple. However, the respondent IIMA has now, voluntarily, taken a decision to provide for reservation in the Ph.D programme also," IIMA has said in an affidavit filed in Gujarat high court.

This affidavit was filed in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) requesting reservations in PhD programs, as several new IIMs, including those in Bangalore, Kolkata, and Indore, have already established provisions for reservations in these specialized programs.

The PIL was filed in 2021 by Anil H Wagde, a member of the Bengaluru-based Global IIM Alumni Network, an unregistered group claiming to have over 200 IIM graduates as members.

The Institute said, "In view of a decision taken by IIMA to provide for reservations, the methodology to carve out reserved seats is being worked out." It stated that an internal committee of faculty members is being formed to come up with a methodology for reservations.

"Considering the peculiar circumstances and the long prevailing practice where on an average 2 to 3 students are admitted in each area of Ph.D programmes, the Committee is facing an uphill task to provide a proper methodology. It is the endevour of IIMA that while providing reservation, there is no discrimination to anybody," the affidavit reads.

In its previous affidavit, IIMA had taken a stand that reservations in doctoral courses might result in "injustice to eligible, meritorious students." The institute argued that quotas "could be counter-productive and might also lead to injustice to other eligible meritorious students. It is submitted that for a course such as this High Level Specialisation Doctoral Course, it is in the larger interest that reservation is not provided."

IIMA pointed out that their doctoral courses were different from those in universities with fixed seat numbers. They mentioned that they also did not have a fixed number of seats, admitting only suitable candidates. In each area, only two to three students were typically admitted, and sometimes, no students were selected if suitable candidates were not available.

The institute argued that since there were no fixed number of seats, it was "impossible" to provide for reservation of fixed seats for any category of social strata. According to the affidavit, since 1971, when the course was first offered, only 422 students have been conferred with the title "Fellow of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad/Ph.D Degree."