Ajay Mathur may head Teri

Pachauri likely to be made executive vice-chairman of governing council

Ajay Mathur might soon take over as the director-general at Teri (The Energy and Resources Institute), replacing R K Pachauri, who might then become the executive vice-chairman of the governing council of the Delhi-based non-government organisation.

Sources in the government confirmed that Mathur’s resignation from the government as director-general of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency was near finalisation, after which he was slated to take over the role at Teri, which works in the environment space.

R K Pachauri, battling allegations of sexual harassment by a woman employee who later resigned, was expected to become the executive vice-chairman of the thinktank’s governing council once Mathur joins. Pachauri has consistently denied the allegations.

Pachauri initially went on leave from his position, as director-general, when the allegations were made against him in February 2015. But, he joined back work as the director-general in July 2015 after securing orders from a court permitting him to attend work at all offices of the institution and another order blocking any action by Teri on the internal committee report that had found him guilty of misconduct.

Soon after, the governing council of the organisation announced that Mathur would take over as director-general. The board did not refer to allegations of sexual misconduct at the workplace in its release. It lauded Pachauri for his contribution to the organisation.

Subsequently, Mathur engaged with the governing council to secure clarity over his role after which it emerged that Pachauri would be made the executive vice-chairman.

The governing council itself saw a resignation of one of the two woman-members during the period. Kiran Majumdar Shaw resigned from the council. Later, speaking to The Economic Times, she said she had resigned as a matter of principle following the allegations. She said she believed Pachauri should have stepped down till his innocence was proven. When the woman employee who had made the allegations resigned from Teri in protest, Shaw tweeted saying, “Disappointing development”.

On January 25, The Economic Times reported a male employee at Teri filing a complaint alleging that he had been pushed by four senior NGO officials to convince his friend – the original complainant – to withdraw her charges and make an out-of-court settlement. The report noted that the male employee too had resigned as a consequence. Reacting to the news, Shaw had tweeted, “A very sorry reflection on the injustices committed at a premier institution on the less influential.”