Pooja Mahabadi, Pune
IIM Calcutta in a statement said that it has taken required action against Sarkar, this was in response to the complaint filed by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).
Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta (IIM-C) on 17th of January dismissed its present Director, Sahadeb Sarkar following the allegations of sexual harassment directed at him. He is the third IIM-C Director to have lost the post before the end of their tenure.
The institute in a statement has announced that they have taken action against Sarkar as asked by the Internal Complaints Committee. The institute also said that the allegations are intricately probed.
IIM Calcutta without wasting any time has appointed the next senior Faculty member, Saibal Chattopadhyay as the Director-incharge of the institute.
The Institute further said, “The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the institute has been in receipt of a written complaint under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) against the then Director-in-Charge professor Sahadeb Sarkar. The ICC has ascertained that prima facie the complaint warrants a formal inquiry and communicated the same to the Board of Governors (BoG)”
This action was taken by the institute in order to maintain the principle of natural justice. It also highlighted the importance of this step as to duly fight “impartiality” and let the enquiry pave its own way.
IIM- C’s Board of Directors held a special meeting on the 6th January this year and came to the common grounds and concluded that the institute’s present Director Sahadeb Sarkar was to be dismissed amidst the raking allegations. He was to be removed off any administrative positions thereafter until the investigation is complete.
Sarkar’s removal makes him the third Director to be dismissed from the position before their tenure came to an end, before him, Uttam Kumar Sarkar resigned as the director in August 2023 in his second term and the then director Anju Seth resigned in her fourth term in 2021.