HC serves notice to respondents in IIM-I case

INDORE: Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court served notices to the six respondents against whom four faculty members of Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM-I) had moved to court. Faculty members had challenged the five-member probe committee that gave a clean chit to director of the institute N Ravichandran, who was facing charges of financial irregularities and corruption.
High court justice Prakash Srivastava, who had reserved his decision on the matter while hearing the petition of the faculties on Wednesday, served the notices to the respondents including secretary, Union of India, additional secretary, MHRD, director IIM-I, chairman IIM-I, N Ravichandran and former IIM-I chairman L N Jhunjhunwala.
Counsel of petitioners Vivek Dalal said, "The court has served notices to the respondents in the petition. The respondents will now submit their reply."
When asked by when the respondents have to submit their reply, Dalal said the notice is generally for six weeks' time. "The court will hear the case in July after it convenes post vacations," said Dalal.
The court has given its decision on the petition of IIM-I faculty members, including Keyur Thaker, DL Sunder, PK Singh and S Ray, who have raised fingers at the probe panel. The petitioners have questioned the probe committee, as it was not an independent one. Last year, high court asked ministry of human resource development (MHRD) to inquire the allegations and submit its report within six months.
The probe was conducted by a five-member panel, including panel chairman Jagdish Capoor, Salil Bhandari, T Kannan, RC Chugh and KRS Murty. The committee also included three members from the board of governors.