Appoint NIVH's director in 3 wks or send principal secy to explain failure: HC to Centre

The UttarakhandHigh Court Thursday ordered the Centre to appoint a regular director for Dehradun-based National Institute for Visually Handicapped which was in the news recently for alleged sexual harassment of the institute's students by its staffers.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Manoj Tiwari asked the Central government to appoint a regular director for the institute within three weeks or else the principal secretary of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will have to appear before it to explain the failure.

The court had earlier taken cognisance of news reports about NIVH's students' protests against the teachers and staffers allegedly involved in sexual abuse of the inmates and had turned the reports into a public interest litigation.

While adjudicating the PIL, the bench said, "It could never be imagined in any civilised society that teachers would be involved in sexual harassment and abuse of students. It is a black spot on the entire teachers' community."