Pachauri goes on leave

New Delhi, February 11

Amid outrage over his appointment as TERI’s Executive Vice-Chairman, R.K. Pachauri has proceeded on leave today and will skip TERI University’s convocation on March 7 after a group of students refused to receive degrees from him.

Despite facing sexual harrassment charges, Pachauri, the Chancellor of the university, was recently elevated to the newly created post, a move which triggered severe criticism from the alumni and women activists across the country.

“Yes. He is on leave. I can confirm this as his position as Chancellor of TERI University. As Chancellor, he is on leave. He communicated this today.

“The convocation is on March 7. He (Pachauri) would not be attending it,” Rajiv Seth, acting VC of TERI varsity said.

Asked who would be holding the position of Chancellor during Pachauri’s absence, Seth said it is yet to be decided and since the VC is involved in the day to day affairs of any university, Pachauri’s going on leave will not affect the institution’s functioning in anyway.

“That has not been decided yet. His position was of a Chancellor. One who gets involved in day to day things is the VC in any university. So it does not affect the functioning of the university in anyway,” Seth said.

Asked to comment on the letter that was written to him by the alumni, Seth said that opinions must be debated and the university will never suppress them.

“We always had a spirit of openness and debate at the university. It is okay if people come up with opinions, we must debate it.

“We would not like to supress any opinions. It is very important as an academic institution to have an openness and open debate. At TERI, which is research university, this is encouraged even more,” he said.

Some alumni of 2013-2015 batch, had yesterday written to Seth saying the recent “inaction” of the board of management at TERI University with respect to Pachauri “deeply saddened” them. — PTI