NCSC summons IIT Kanpur director in harassment case

The National Commission for Schedule Castes (NCSC) has issued summonses to the director of IIT Kanpur and the head of its aerospace engineering department following allegations that a newly appointed faculty member was harassed by some senior professors.

"The NCSC has asked me and Head of Department (HoD) Prof A K Ghosh to appear in person before the commission's Delhi office on April 10 to explain the roles of faculty members who allegedly harassed the assistant professor," said IIT Kanpur director Professor Manindra Agarwal.

It has been decided to submit all relevant information "including the complainant's e-mail, the findings of a high-level fact-finding committee and the minutes of the meeting of board of governors", Agarwal added.

Elaborating on the case, Agarwal said a faculty member, who had joined the institute as assistant professor in the aerospace engineering department in January, had alleged to have faced harassment at the hands of five seniors.

"He had written a strongly worded e-mail to me and the head of the aerospace engineering department, Prof A K Ghosh, drawing our attention toward the matter. It prompted to me to constitute a high-level fact-finding committee under Professor Vinay Pathak, the vice chancellor of Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU)," Agarwal added.

Prima facie, the charges leveled against the accused professors were found to be true and the inquiry committee submitted the findings over a week ago, Agarwal said.

He, however, acknowledged that a formal committee has not been constituted so far to probe the charges properly.