Bengaluru: In an unprecedented move, the Board of Governors (BoG) of the prestigious Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) sacked its chairman Prof G. Thimmaiah from the post for allegedly working against the interests of the institute. Former chief secretary of the Karnataka government, Dr A. Ravindra, will be the new chairman.
Sources close to the development said that ISEC has 24 board of governors, and 12 of them attended Saturdays’ meeting, where the decision was taken to remove Prof. Thimmaiah.
“Prof Thimmaiah, who had five months of his tenure left, was facing charges of working against the interests of the institute. Based on these complaints, the Board unanimously decided to remove him from the post. Dr Ravindra will be the chairman for the next five months," sources said.
It is for the first time in the history of the institute that the chairman has been removed from the post. In February 2015, Prof Binay Kumar Pattnaik, director of the institute, resigned following allegations of misuse of funds and undemocratic decisions. Since then, the institute has run without a full-time director. Now, Prof M.R. Narayana is serving as the in-charge director, but it is affecting research activities of the institute, the sources said.
The rot in the system became public after Prof T.N. Bhat, an Assistant Professor at ISEC, filed a complaint against Prof Thimmaiah and Prof Pattnaik, alleging misuse of funds and violating norms of their appointment. The Upalokayukta is conducting an inquiry into the allegations. The sources said that troubles started brewing after Prof. Binay Kumar Pattnaik was appointed the new director.
“After the appointment, emails of a few faculty members, who raised issues concerning institute’s importance, were blocked. Leaked documents that are in the public domain revealed that the institute was spending heavily on non-core issues and that the director and chairman were misusing funds. This prompted the board to remove the chairman," the sources said.
Sources in the Raj Bhavan said that Governor Vajubhai Vala is expected to start the process of appointing a new director by nominating his representative to the search committee.
