Pachauri influencing TERI officials, HC told

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought a response from environmentalist R.K. Pachauri and the police on charges that he was influencing TERI officials to settle the sexual harassment case lodged against him by a former woman colleague.

Justice S.P. Garg asked Pachauri and Delhi Police for their responses on a fresh application moved by the complainant alleging that Pachauri had instructed one of her colleagues to persuade her for an out-of-court settlement.

The court fixed February 11 as the next date of hearing.

The woman filed the application in a plea pending before the court asking it to cancel the bail granted to Pachauri.

The court, which was to pronounce the order on Thursday on the woman's plea, has now deferred the order.

The woman research analyst said a TERI employee filed a police complaint on January 12 saying senior officials of TERI were pressurising him to have the matter settled by the woman with Pachauri.

The plea said: "This fact clearly establishes that Pachauri is exercising influence over other officials of TERI to have the woman reach an out of court settlement."

"This fact itself is an additional ground for cancellation of (his) anticipatory bail," it added.

It further said that on January 12, Delhi Police had received the complaint from TERI's research associate, but the concerned investigating officer and station house officer did not bother to inform the high court when the case was heard on January 13.

After the woman employee of TERI filed a sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri denied the charge but stepped down as chairperson of UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February last year and proceeded on leave from TERI where he was the director general.

Later, Pachauri was ousted as TERI head in July and Ajay Mathur appointed in his place.

In November, the woman researcher who accused him of sexual harassment quit her job at TERI, alleging she was treated badly. TERI denied the charge.

Pachauri was granted anticipatory bail in March last year but was ordered not to leave the country without court permission.