BANGALORE: The professor at Bangalore University’s PG Centre in Kolar, accused of sexually harassing his PhD student, will remain an associate professor for life if he remains with BU.
The inquiry report submitted by the BU committee headed by Lalitha Ashwath had found Prof Ka Vem Srinivas Murthy guilty. The university had then asked for legal opinion and, on Thursday, the Syndicate decided not to give him any more promotions. After the meeting, Vice-Chancellor B Thimme Gowda said, “The Syndicate has decided to stop his promotions and he will remain an associate professor for his entire career.”
Meanwhile, he has been transferred from the Kolar PG Centre to the distance education centre at Bangalore. “It is like a demotion for him. There is no question of less workload here as we will use him for all works, including preparing syllabus for distance education courses,” Gowda said.
The university will assign other guides to all the female students Murthy was guiding and will not assign him any female students in the future. If he refuses to accept the decision, he will be dismissed.
“The university has no authority to take legal actions like filing a criminal case. If the other party wants to do so, it is left to them,” Gowda said.