TERI's DISGRACEFUL APPOINTMENT

It is a matter of disgrace that an eminent man who leaves his position under a cloud of serious charges of sexual harassment is able to return to an executive position in the same organisation without any compunction. The appointment of climate scientist R.K. Pachauri as executive vice-chairman of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in a position apparently created for him, is contrary to the spirit of Indian law that now accords great importance to the safety of women and the special enactment to deal with sexual harassment at the workplace. Dr. Pachauri went on leave in February 2015 from TERI and quit the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. However, even after an Internal Complaints Committee found him guilty of misconduct on a complaint by a woman researcher, he returned to TERI last July on the strength of an interim order by an industrial tribunal staying the complaints panel’s report. With a new Director-General taking over at TERI, Dr. Pachauri has been accommodated in a position from which he can wield power and influence over employees and researchers in an organisation that is partially funded by the government. His continuance in this organisation is untenable. It is apparent from the emergence of a second complaint and reports that his return has caused dismay among many women employees that the charge is not related to one incident or a rare lapse in behaviour, but a repeatedly displayed propensity. Second, his being around in the face of an ongoing criminal investigation against him is wholly inappropriate and against the spirit of the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
                  In many ways, TERI as an employer appears to have ignored its obligations under the Act. The complainant is not in the organisation anymore, indicating that conditions for her continuance were not facilitated by the management. It did not act immediately on the internal committee’s report, as can be discerned from the fact that there was no follow-up disciplinary action. The jurisdiction of an industrial tribunal to stay the findings of an internal panel under the special law is a legal question that may be decided in ongoing proceedings before the Delhi High Court. As an organisation, TERI has a global profile as well as a considerable body of achievement behind it in the field of energy efficiency and climate science. Its Governing Council has eminent people of impeccable credentials. Not unexpectedly, Dr. Pachauri denies any wrongdoing and doggedly seeks to retain his position. However, it is incomprehensible why the organisation and the eminent people on its governing body should support him. In fact, it is the management of TERI that ought to be assisting the complainants in pursuing legal remedies. It should now act to ensure that Dr. Pachauri does not play a role in TERI any more. As for the 75-year-old scientist who headed an organisation that shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, it is time for him to rest on his tainted laurels.