Five months after his resignation as chief of the Intergovernmental Penal on Climate Change (IPCC) and as one of the members of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change following allegations of molestation, stalking and sexual harassment of a 29-year-old subordinate in February, the governing council of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has finally sacked R K Pachauri and announced his replacement. The statement issued by the council makes no mention of the sexual harassment charges against him, but the move is evidently prompted by outrage within TERI and outside against a court order last week, allowing him to return to work.
That Pachauri had been allowed to report to work by the council that comprises eminent members—men and women—of corporate India is startling enough. The council’s primary mistake or conscious failure was to not suspend him after the incident was reported and conduct a disciplinary inquiry. This was a logical step after the passage of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, and a slew of judicial pronouncements. A government employee, facing allegations of sexual harassment at workplace, may be suspended even before filing of the chargesheet if his stay in office is likely to prejudice the investigation or leads to a scandal, compromising wider public interest.
Legally, of course, Pachauri is innocent until proven guilty. He could have argued with correctness that nothing in law prevented him from returning to head TERI. But the questions his return under the circumstances had raised weren’t about the law, but about organisational propriety. The TERI-appointed internal complaints committee had backed the complainant in its final report in May, which also noted—as per media reports—that both Pachauri and his sympathisers in the organisation had been ‘hostile’ and ‘intimidating’ during the investigation.
The members of the council had duties and powers independent of the complaints committee. As independent members, they should have seen that the issue went beyond just a legal case.
Equally pertinent is the fact that Pachauri was forced to resign from international bodies as well as the government body immediately after the complaints surfaced but was allowed to serve TERI. This raises questions about governance norms within TERI. It suggests that Corporate India has double standards, one for functioning abroad and one within the country.
It’s better late than never and the TERI governing council’s decision must be welcomed. It must now put in place a mechanism in the organisation to ensure similar mistakes do not recur. That it took so long to reach this stage in a case of sexual harassment in such a high-profile organisation that attracted national and global attention underlines the need for an attitudinal change in the larger society.
The episode shows that merely enacting a law to prevent sexual harassment at workplace is not enough. There is a need for continuous efforts from lawmakers as well as employers to seriously address the issue. Public bodies in the private and government sectors must inculcate a culture that deals with issues of sexual harassment at workplace with the sensitivity they deserve. As more women join the workforce to play their long-denied role in India’s economic progress, the issue deserves urgent attention. We must develop best practices in governance to address the issue.
gaursaroj@ymail.com
Gaur is a former Allahabad University Professor and women rights activist