New Delhi: Under attack from Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) over drastic slashing of fees, the Human Resource Development Ministry today (Feb 6, 2004) decided to constitute a one-man committee to work out the "additional requirement" of funds for IIMs.

Former Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) V K Shunglu has been entrusted with the task, which would also cover the proposed increase in the intake capacity of IIMs, an order from the Ministry said.

The Committee has been asked to submit its report within a month.

Incidentally, Shunglu is also probing into the leakage of question paper of Common Admission Test (CAT) to IIMs in November. The CAT examination was cancelled by the Ministry and a re-test was ordered.

The Ministry had yesterday decided to drastically reduce the fees for the post-graduate programmes in the IIMs to Rs 30,000 per annum from around Rs 1.50 lakh per annum, observing that it was "exorbitant", a move that has been attacked by academics, student community and IIMs as having the potential of ruining the financial health of these prestigious institutions.

The revised fee structure would take effect from the academic session 2004/05.