Sanjeev Sanyal slams SIS for his removal as GIPE chancellor: ‘I was not in picture during NAAC evaluation’

Sanyal also wrote on X that though SIS founded the GIPE it no longer funds it, and and has set up an institute called Western Business School on the campus.

I had so far refrained from commenting on recent events at GIPE. However, I would like to put a few things on public record. SIS President Sahoo has raised two justifications for replacing me as Chancellor of GIPE. First, that I am somehow responsible for poor ‘B’ grade in NAAC… pic.twitter.com/4MSEmFhiyg

— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) April 5, 2025

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“I was appointed as Chancellor a few months back and I made it a point to visit the institute every Saturday. I had regular interactions with the students and also got very eminent persons to come to the institute. It is very wrong to blame me for the fall in NAAC accreditation as I was not in the picture when the evaluation was done,” he told The Indian Express on Saturday.

Sahoo’s accusations

On April 2, Sahoo had cited the recent ‘B’ grade National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation received by GIPE as a reason for removing Sanyal for the post. A lack of response by Sanyal to a letter by Sahoo in March about recruitment at the institute was the second reason Sahoo cited for his removal.

Sanyal wrote that he took over as Chancellor of GIPE only in October 2024 and that the NAAC review was based on data from 2018-2023, therefore he could not be held responsible for the poor grade.

As for a lack of response to Sahoo’s letter dated March 24, Sanyal said that he was in the United Kingdom to deliver lectures at various colleges and returned only on March 30. After returning, he asked JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Pandit to form a committee to look into the recruitment process at GIPE for which she agreed. Sanyal claimed that before he could inform Sahoo about the update, he received a letter that a new Chancellor would be appointed.

Meanwhile, SIS vice-president Atmanand Mishra alleged that rules of the SIS were not being followed in the last few years. “I have served 40 years in the Society. But in Sahoo’s presidency and Deshmukh’s secretaryship, the whole structure of the Society has been hollowed out. Deshmukh was not always like this, he has changed in the last few years after Sahoo became the president. They first take some action, and move a resolution later and get everybody’s signatures. They treat the Society as their personal property, even the charity commissioner is not helping,” Mishra told The Indian Express.

He added that he had not been asked to sign the decision to remove Sanyal, and he would not do it. “There is a process to remove someone, natural justice has to act out. A show cause notice has to be sent and the person has to be given time to explain himself.

The matter of removing someone comes after that,” Mishra pointed out. He also said that according to court judgments, circular resolution could be used for regular functioning but for serious matters, physical meetings are a must. However, he claimed that no such meeting was called before Sanyal was removed.

Despite multiple attempts Sahoo and Deshmukh, did not respond to calls or messages for a comment.