The Hindu : National : HRD Ministry issues show cause notice to research institute director

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 26, 2004

National

National

HRD Ministry issues show cause notice to research institute director

By Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI, NOV. 25. The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has taken a serious view of the non-cooperation by officers of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla, with the one-man committee set up in October to review the functioning of the institute over the last three years.

Acting on a complaint by D. Bandopadhyay — who has been entrusted with the review — the Ministry invoked Rule 6 of the Memorandum of Association of the IIAS this Tuesday, to issue a show cause notice to the institute Director, Bhuvan Chandel. Calling for an explanation from him on the non-cooperation, the Ministry directed the institute Chairman, G. C. Pande, to issue her a notice to "show cause as to why action should not be taken for the reported non-cooperation with the review committee and for obstruction in the smooth conduct of enquiry."

Besides, Mr. Pande has also been directed to pass necessary directions and ensure that the Director and others in the institute cooperate with the committee and pass on the required information so that the institute is not open to the charge of suppressing information.

He has to ensure that the committee has access to all the required documents/papers/files/information relating to the terms of reference of the review.

The Ministry sent the letter to the institute after Dr. Bandopadhyay sought its intervention in enabling access to the documents.

The review committee's efforts to access the documents had been futile, with the Director or her officers giving excuses. He informed the Ministry that Prof. Chandel had given written directives to her officers not to send any documents or give information to the committee without her approval.

Dr. Bandopadhyay's contention is that it is for the committee to judge which material is relevant for the enquiry and the Director should not arrogate to herself the right to judge the relevance of any document. There is an apprehension that some documents — particularly pertaining to the sanction of fellowships — may have been destroyed.

These documents are important as the Ministry has specifically asked Dr. Bandopadhyay to probe the sanctioning of fellowships during the last three years, especially "the sudden and unusual increase in the number of fellowships sanctioned."

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