New Delhi: A woman employee of TERI, who has accused its chief R K Pachauri of sexually harassing her, today moved a fresh application in Delhi High Court seeking his immediate removal from office.
The woman, in her plea before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath, also sought that TERI be directed "not (to) further victimise her by terminating her services under any circumstances whatsoever during pendency of the cases". Her interim application said: "Pass an interim direction directing respondent no. 4 (TERI) to remove/suspend the respondent no.5 (Pachauri) from its office with immediate effect."
The woman urged the court to "direct The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to treat sexual harassment as a misconduct under the service rule and initiate immediate action for such misconduct against Pachauri." She also sought that she should be "allowed to be on leave with full pay" till pendency of all cases before various courts, saying TERI has withheld her salary since May.
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The application and the matter have been listed by the court for hearing on November 16. The application sought direction to stay proceedings before the industrial tribunal, wherein "Pachauri had prayed for and obtained a stay on the findings and recommendations of the TERI's internal complaints committee (ICC) dated May 19 in connection with her complaint."
The woman has argued that the industrial tribunal does not have jurisdiction to hear Pachauri's appeal under the Sexual Harassment of Women At Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act. "Direct TERI to permit the petitioner (woman) to continue to be on leave with full pay during pendency of the cases pending before different courts, as the circumstances in no way are supportive of her resuming work physically," she said.
"Direct TERI to not insist on the physical presence of the petitioner at the premises of TERI and its other offices," she has urged in her plea. Earlier, the High Court had sought a response from the government on the woman's plea alleging that the organisation had not acted against Pachauri, as recommended by an ICC in connection with her sexual harassment complaint.
The bench had issued notice to the government, TERI and Pachauri seeking their replies by November 16 on the woman's plea.
The ICC report has been stayed by an industrial tribunal on May 29 on his plea.
The woman in her petition has challenged the stay order as well as the jurisdiction of the industrial tribunal to deal with appeals against the ICC report or non-implementation of its recommendations.
Earlier, the woman's counsel had alleged in court that TERI and its governing council had "primarily failed to treat it as a misconduct or suspend him (Pachauri)" as recommended by ICC in its report.
The counsel had also claimed that TERI was treating the ICC report "like a backroom inquiry" and sought its service rules saying there was a "lack of transparency" on how the organisation, funded by the government, worked.
On July 17, Pachauri was allowed by a Delhi court to enter his office premises, except the head office here and a branch in Gurgaon.
An FIR was registered against Pachauri on February 13 on charges of sexual harassment under IPC sections 354, 354(a) 354(d) (molestation) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Pachauri had moved the trial court for relief following the direction of the High Court, which had on February 19 given him interim protection from arrest till February 23.
