NEW DELHI: The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have sought a meeting with the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to avoid a possible stand-off with the Centre over the decision to announce their admission lists on April 21 despite specific instructions from the Ministry to keep them on hold till further orders.

The IIM directors are expected to meet over the next couple of days to take stock of the situation in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on Wednesday to hear the quota case on April 23.

On April 12 — the day the admission lists are likely to be out — directors of the six institutes decided to defer the publication of the final admission list to their two-year, post-graduate management programme till April 21 in deference to the directive from the Ministry.

Following the Supreme Court's stay on the implementation of 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Central educational institutions, the Ministry had on April 5 asked all such establishments to keep their admission lists on abeyance till further orders. However, taking the plea that their admission process cannot be deferred indefinitely, the IIM directors decided that the maximum period they could wait was till April 21 as the next session is due to begin on June 21. Any further delay would upset their academic calendar is the IIMs' contention.

According to the IIMs, at least three weeks are needed to send out offer letters to successful candidates and for them to respond.

Thereafter, there is a four-week-long preparatory programme for some candidates identified as having weak points during the group discussion and interview stages of the selection process.

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