New Delhi: Amid indication that they were not in favour of any fee cut, six prestigious IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) today submitted to the Government "reasonable and comprehensive" proposals on the controversial issue but appeared agreeable to a "flexible" need-based scholarships scheme for poor students.

The proposals would be discussed by their Boards of Governors for decision before June 25.

During their meeting with Education Secretary S C Tripathi, the chiefs of these prestigious B-schools suggested a uniform fee structure, meaning a "uniform approach" on the controversial fee issue, sources in the ministry said.

Observing that there was "unanimity of views" on the proposals among the IIMs, which would be considered by their Boards of Governors, the sources said "whatever necessary, Government's nominees will take a decision on the basis of the proposal".

All the IIMs are believed to have favoured a uniform approach to the issue of fees, the sources said.

Today's meeting was attended by Director IIM-Ahmedabad Bakul Dholakia, IIM-Kolkata Shekhar Chaudhuri, IIM-Lucknow Devi Singh, IIM-Kozhikode Krishna Kumar, IIM-Indore S P Parashar and IIM-Bangalore P G Apte.

To a question on the need-based scholarship as offered by the IIMs and the criteria for securing them, the sources simply said "no student will be denied admission for want of resources. All admission forms will say this in bold letters".

Skirting queries on the need-based scholarships, the sources indicated that "income" may be the main parameter for knowing the fee paying capacity of a student. "It is not a rigid system. It will be flexible".

Observing that there may not be any limit to the number of need-based scholarship to economically weaker sections and "theoretically it can be 100 per cent", the sources said that each Board would "fine-tune" the proposal for approval at their respective Boards.

The sources said Government has not withdrawn the order slashing the fees from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 30,000 and it would act depending on the decision of the Boards of Governors whether to stick to the order or revise it.

The Shunglu Committee, appointed by Joshi to go into the financial needs of the IIMs in the wake of fee reduction, also came up for discussion. The Committee headed by former CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) had come to the conclusion that these prestigious management schools could stand on their own even without Government aid.