Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), has officially sacked its Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Indu Shekar Vassist on charges of sexually harassing a woman doctor.
An email sent by the IIM-B Director Pankaj Chandra to all the faculty on the May 24 stating that the services of the CAO has been dismissed. In the email, a copy of which is available with Express, Prof Chandra has stated that the CAO has been dismissed from the institute with effect from May 22 after following all the due processes.
The email also stated that the present CAO Col (Retd) Raghbir Singh will continue in the post till further orders.
Meanwhile, the decision to dismiss the CAO has been viewed as justice denied due to the prolonged delay. Donna Fernandes, a member, of Vimochana NGO, said the IIM-B dragged its feet way too long in the issue.
“The IIM-B, at every stage, created space for the CAO to defend himself even in the legal proceedings. The management deliberately tried to defend him by doing so. The rules of the institute state that action against any kind of sexual harassment has to be taken within a week’s time. But the issue has been dodged for more than a year,” she said.
“The victim has not been reinstated to her job and the IIM-B has not yet given a copy of the Gender Sensitivity Committee Report to her. She was fired from her job just because she filed a sexual harassment complaint against the CAO,” Donna alleged.
Vimochana had staged a protest in front of the IIM-B campus in November 2012 over the delay in action against CAO, following which the management temporarily suspended him.
The victim said, “I am of the opinion that justice has only been done partially. The perpetrators of my dismissal in such an inhuman manner have escaped unscathed. I am still feeling the impact of the undignified manner in which I was made to leave the campus.”