New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) has removed its director-in-charge, Sahadeb Sarkar, because of an allegation of sexual harassment against him. The institute announced this decision in a statement on Tuesday (January 16).

“The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the institute has been in receipt of a written complaint under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) against the then Director-in-Charge professor Sahadeb Sarkar. The ICC has ascertained that prima facie the complaint warrants a formal inquiry and communicated the same to the Board of Governors (BoG),” the statement read.

“IIM-C Board of Governors held a special meeting on 6 January 2024 and accepted the recommendation of the ICC that professor Sahadeb Sarkar shall not continue in the office of Director-in-Charge and shall be removed from the said post and any other position wherein he has administrative charges in IIM Calcutta, during the pendency of formal inquiry before the ICC and any proceedings arising therefrom or incidental thereto,” it continued.

According to The Indian Express, the next senior-most faculty member, professor Saibal Chattopadhyay, has been appointed as director-in-charge.

Sarkar is the third IIM director in three years to leave before his term is over.

Sarkar has called the allegations “baseless”, The Telegraph reported. “I emphatically deny the allegations made against me. I am shocked with the baseless allegations. In any case this seems to be an official press release by the management and I am prevented from speaking to the press by the POSH rules 17(6) of the institute. I will address this appropriately at an appropriate forum,” he said.

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