Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has stayed the compulsory retirement order issued by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, to a senior faculty member of the institute, over sexual harassment charges.Giridhar Madras, a faculty of Chemical Engineering at IISc, had been sent on compulsory retirement after a PhD student accused him of sexual harassment. He had been found guilty by the institute’s Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of making sexually coloured remarks towards the PhD student and also calling her at odd hours, among other things.
The IISc ordered Giridhar, who had been associated with IISc since 1998, to compulsorily retire, on October 17.
However, Giridhar contended that the ICC should have asked the complainant to present proof to substantiate her allegations. Claiming that the compulsory retirement awarded to him was based on a show-cause notice drawn from the ICC’s enquiry report, Giridhar alleged that it was based on “perceptions” and not proof.
Giridhar also mentioned that the PhD student had sent a letter on January 20, 2017, where she allegedly said she was satisfied with the response submitted by him to her first complaint from December 2016. He contended that the matter should have been treated as closed.
The complainant, in March 29, 2017, asked for permission to work under the supervision of another professor, alleging that Giridhar was ignoring her, though Giridhar was not aware of her identity at that point. The professor claimed that this complaint did not contain a mention of sexual harassment allegations and the ICC should not have started an enquiry.
He stated that the Committee had prolonged the ruling on the matter, which started from March 2017 and finished in February 2018, and contended that the Committee had several procedural irregularities during his case.
Giridhar told the court that his chances of future employment were hampered because the IISc director had mentioned Giridhar’s name in a press meet. He sought the court’s direction in initiating action against the director.
