A Parliamentary Panel has taken exception to the fee hike by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and asked as to why IIMs should raise their fees without waiting for the report of the Bhargava Committee, set up to review functioning of the institutes.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, which tabled its report in Lok Sabha, said, "The Committee fails to understand why some IIMs went ahead with raising their fees, without waiting for the Bhargava Committee Report."

It said no other IIM should do the same till the Committee report is submitted. "In future, no IIM should go ahead with increasing the fees before the Bhargava Committee submits its report," the Panel said.

The Bhargava Committee under Maruti Udyog [Get Quote] Limited Chairman R C Bhargava was appointed in October 2007 to submit a review of functioning of IIMs within six months.

Terms of reference of the review included the existing fee structure in IIMs, use of their corpus funds, number of scholarships, freeships, their status, existing courses, organisational and administrative structures, etc.

The Standing Commitee said a plan allocation of Rs 98 crore (Rs 980 million) has been made for IIMs in 2008-09. This includes Rs 53 crore (Rs 530 million) for implementation of Oversight Committee recommendations for meeting the requirements of increased number of students.