The Karnataka High Court has reinstated senior professor Giridhar Madras to Bengaluru's prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He was asked to go on compulsory retirement after he was accused of sexual harassment around 10 months ago.
An internal probe committee found the 51-year-old professor of chemical engineering guilty of making sexually harassing a PhD student on 17 October 2018.
Justice BP Bajanthri has demanded action against the director of IISc and members of the internal committee for violating several rules, not providing a copy of the complaint to the accused and ignoring the Central Civil Services Rules.
The court also held that the IISc and its inquiry committee made several errors since the complaint was received and failed to follow statutory rules and procedures prescribed under the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 and the Central Civil Services Rules, reported The Hindu.
The IISc professor had denied the allegations against him and questioned the inquiry report. He has also questioned the compulsory retirement order issued by the institution. To avoid future errors, the HC has asked the Union Ministry of Personnel and Training to conduct expert training on preparing an inquiry report over cases of sexual harassment
With nearly 10,000 citations to his name, Professor Giridhar Madras has received many awards, including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, IISc award for excellence in teaching and research.
