The admissions at the proposed IIM in Odisha may not take place this year (2015-16 academic session) as the State Government is yet to finalise a permanent venue for the premier institution.
Union HRD Ministry has recently sent a letter to the State ET and ET Department asking it to locate the venue as soon as possible, failing which admissions may not occur for the current academic session. As per the guidelines, after finalisation of a permanent location, a temporary campus is made at nearby areas to start the academic session. There is no finality whether the institution would be established in Bhubaneswar, as proposed initially, or in western city of Sambalpur, which has been recently pushed by both the Centre and the State Government as the location for the IIM.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have also exchanged letters on the location in Sambalpur. A Central team had visited Bhubaneswar and approved a site near Gothapatna on the outskirts of the city. It had approved the proposal to start the IIM from the campus of the Indian Institute of Information Technology in the city.