COIMBATORE: Bharathiar University has initiated enquiries into the complaints filed by two women PhD candidates. In the first case, a PhD candidate registered a case of sexual harassment against the university's English department head while a case of holding fraudulent viva-voce was registered by another English department PhD candidate. The university has asked the ethics committee and the women harassment cell to look into both the issues.
University vice-chancellor James Pitchai said, "We have given the committee 20-30 days to submit its report on both complaints."
According to her complaint, Anitha Rajan, a candidate who had registered for PhD under the English department back in 2010, had discontinued her studies in 2012 due to personal circumstances. Following this, in June 2014, she approached the university seeking permission to complete her PhD. She formally began her studies on March 2015.
She filed her complaint with the police alleging sexual harassment by the department's head D Saravana Selvan on July 9.
Following this, another English department candidate, Elsamma Sebastian, 52, levelled allegations that the PhD viva-voce held for her, this February, was fraudulent. According to her complaint, a linguistics department professor was appointed as the observer for her examination after she refused to pay an assistant professor of her own department who demanded a bribe to hold her viva-voce.
In Anitha Rajan's case, Sarvana Selvan denied the allegations stating that he had met Anitha only four times since June 2014.
Interestingly though, he had submitted a written complaint to the university on June 22 claiming an internal conspiracy hatched to taint his image. "I requested the university to register a police complaint as it involved charges of sexual harassment against me," said Selvan.
When TOI questioned, James Pitchai, about the Selvan's petition that was submitted almost a month ago — which was ideally ample time for the committee to have found the culprit -- he rebutted saying, "while the committee was enquiring Saravana Selvan's complaint, Anitha filed a complaint with the police on July 9. So, the ethic committee had to look into both matters simultaneously."
On the other hand, in Elsamma Sebstian's case, the university had asked the Dean of Arts to sit in as the observer for her viva-voce when ideally only an English department professor can. According to Elsamma, the assistant professor of her department demanded a bribe to be an observer for the viva voce, a share which he would give to the university officials. When Elsamma refused to pay him, the Dean of Arts who knew nothing about her subject was made the observer.
University vice-chancellor James Pitchai said, "We have given the committee 20-30 days to submit its report on both complaints."
According to her complaint, Anitha Rajan, a candidate who had registered for PhD under the English department back in 2010, had discontinued her studies in 2012 due to personal circumstances. Following this, in June 2014, she approached the university seeking permission to complete her PhD. She formally began her studies on March 2015.
She filed her complaint with the police alleging sexual harassment by the department's head D Saravana Selvan on July 9.
Following this, another English department candidate, Elsamma Sebastian, 52, levelled allegations that the PhD viva-voce held for her, this February, was fraudulent. According to her complaint, a linguistics department professor was appointed as the observer for her examination after she refused to pay an assistant professor of her own department who demanded a bribe to hold her viva-voce.
In Anitha Rajan's case, Sarvana Selvan denied the allegations stating that he had met Anitha only four times since June 2014.
Interestingly though, he had submitted a written complaint to the university on June 22 claiming an internal conspiracy hatched to taint his image. "I requested the university to register a police complaint as it involved charges of sexual harassment against me," said Selvan.
When TOI questioned, James Pitchai, about the Selvan's petition that was submitted almost a month ago — which was ideally ample time for the committee to have found the culprit -- he rebutted saying, "while the committee was enquiring Saravana Selvan's complaint, Anitha filed a complaint with the police on July 9. So, the ethic committee had to look into both matters simultaneously."
On the other hand, in Elsamma Sebstian's case, the university had asked the Dean of Arts to sit in as the observer for her viva-voce when ideally only an English department professor can. According to Elsamma, the assistant professor of her department demanded a bribe to be an observer for the viva voce, a share which he would give to the university officials. When Elsamma refused to pay him, the Dean of Arts who knew nothing about her subject was made the observer.
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