Dr Pritam Singh: A Legend In Management Education Whose Life Was Exemplified By Courage, Conviction And Compassion

The Autonomy of the PGDM Programme could be saved by his valiant efforts.

Padma Shri Dr Pritam Singh was a legendary figure in Management Education. His contributions in this one of the most vibrant professional discipline, have been immense. He served Indian Management Education in many capacities viz. as a faculty, institution builder, corporate trainer, researcher, author and a great human being.

Having associated with him for the last 25 years, I am deeply impressed by one of the episodes in the history of management education in India. It was the sudden withdrawal of the autonomy of 545 PGDM institutions by the AICTE. Dr Pritam Singh led the delegations of schools' directors which were organised by the Education Promotion Society for India. We met then HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and requested him to intervene in this matter. He expressed his inability and suggested us to find a legal remedy. I vividly remember that out of our delegation, he was the most vocal members who argued with the HRD Minister.

Finally, after exploring all forums, options and contacts, we decided to explore the matter at the Supreme Court. When we went to meet KK Venugopal, India's most sought after solicitor general, we requested to Dr Singh to lead us for preliminary discussion with Mr Venugopal. During the meeting, he helped us in explaining the vital issues involved in our petition to Mr Venugopal and also understood his point of view very clearly. 

We filed our petition in the Supreme Court and KK Venugopal with the support of a battery of lawyers including Dr Rajiv Dhawan argued the case. We got stayed the AICTE's order dated December 28, 2010. This cases lasted more than seven years. Ultimately through active consultation of Dr Pritam Singh with Dr Anil Sahsrabudhe, the new Chairman of AICTE, this issue could be resolved amicably.

This is the story of this case in which Dr Pritam Singh was always with PGDM institutions and helped us as a mentor, guide and advisor. 

He was a saviour of Indian Management Education in true sense!

- Article by Dr Harivansh Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH & Alt.President, EPSI, New Delhi. 

Dr Harivansh Chaturvedi

Guest Author The author is Alternate President, EPSI & Director, BIMTECH