Kolkata: Bimal Roy sacked from ISI, students' plea calls for probe into his dismissal

The students and alumni of Indian Statistical Institute have started a petition on Change.org that has generated more than 1600 signatures.

Renowned scientist Bimal Roy was removed from his post a month and a half before the end of his term.

In an order issued by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, it was stated that "apprehension has been raised that Roy might have indulged in acts of administrative and financial impropriety."

He has been replaced by director-designate Sanghmitra Bandyopadhyay, who was supposed to take charge of the institute on Aug 1.

While the order failed to mention charges against Roy, it stated: “There is justified and reasonable apprehension that the present Director, Prof Bimal Roy may indulge in propagation of indiscipline and mischief, including acts of administrative and financial impropriety in the interregnum up to 31st July 2015 (before the new Director, Prof S Bandyopadhyay takes charge on 1st August 2015).”

However, the removal has resulted into a mass agitation specially among students and alumni of the prestigious institution.

According to the petitioners, the order does not clearly state the specific charges against Roy and no proper justification was given. He was also not given an opportunity to defend himself.

Roy’s term as director was supposed to end on July 31.

From April 2015, procedures were initiated for appointment of a new director.

"Unfortunately major protocols were violated in the process. The controversy began after the ISI Council meeting held on April 23, 2015, for appointment of the new director of ISI," one of the petitioners said.

The Selection Committee appointed by the Council recommended a particular name for the post of the Director, but a clear majority among the council members were allegedly against the Selection Committee’s recommendation and wanted further discussions.

The chairman of the Council,  Arun Shourie, refused to discuss any points raised by the fellow council members and wanted the ISI Council to pass the name decided by the Selection Committee without any discussion or voting, the petition stated. 

It is compulsory as per rules of ISI that if anyone has an objection over a candidate in the ISI Council's meeting then there should be voting. In fact, the documented proceedings of the council meeting were allegedly different from what was actually discussed. Hence, Roy reportedly refused to sign the proceedings of the meeting, which is an important criterion to legitimise the decisions.

According to reports, no further meeting has been held, and also no separate discussion with  Roy was done by the council or the Ministry after that, till the aforementioned order was issued.

The petition on the website titled “JusticeFor ISI” stated: "Such a supercilious Ministry order removing a sitting Director without any consultation with the ISI Council befits an emergency situation and is totally unprecedented."

The petitioners said that they found lack of transparency on the ​ministry’s part.

They have demanded that proper independent public investigation must be done regarding the Ministry's allegations against Roy.

The petition has also asked for the audio recording of the Director selection meeting along with its transcript should be released immediately and investigated by independent authority.

"Till these investigations are over and the Council decides otherwise, citing valid proof, Prof Bimal Kumar Roy should be immediately reinstated at the position of interim Director," it added.