Finally, Govt set to show-cause IIM director on ‘missing’ degree

The notice, sources said, will ask Sharma to explain why the Ministry of Education (MoE) should not initiate administrative and legal action against him for abusing his position, “concealing” his Bachelor’s degree; and bringing disrepute to an Institute of National Importance.

The notice, likely to be served this week, states that Sharma committed an act of moral turpitude and acquired financial interest as IIM director which is against public interest. Sharma will have two weeks to respond, The Indian Express has learned.

The decision to take action against Sharma comes almost two weeks after the government, which initially denied any irregularity, admitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court that Sharma was appointed head of IIM-Rohtak in 2017 despite securing a second division at the undergraduate level. A first-class Bachelor’s degree was the prerequisite for the job.

However, this admission was made only after Sharma completed his five-year term – and, in fact, got a second term.

Sharma’s appointment had been challenged in the Punjab & Haryana High Court. The petitioner alleged that the Director, among other things, misrepresented his educational qualifications and is ineligible to hold the post.

The MoE told the court that it had written thrice to Sharma last year asking him for verified copies of his educational certificates to which he didn’t reply: the first letter on February 18, 2021 and two reminders on June 28 and December 15, 2021.

On February 17 this year, the ministry finally received his degrees from IIM-Rohtak to discover that he had a second division in his undergraduate degree from Delhi University.

The government had told the court earlier this month that it is now “enquiring” how the omission and commission happened and fix responsibility. The next hearing in the case is Tuesday.

Incidentally, a year ago, the MoE had urged the High Court to dismiss the plea saying the petitioners have no locus standi since none of the 60 applicants for the Director’s job had challenged the appointment. In its first affidavit filed in February last year, the Ministry had said that Sharma’s appointment was done following due procedure and is “liable to be upheld.” This even as the government was still trying to get hold of Sharma’s undergraduate degree.

The Indian Express has learned that Sharma has disputed the government’s stand and, in his additional affidavit, has stated that he obtained second division in his undergraduate studies from Delhi University which the government knew all along.

He is learned to have said that the MoE’s stand that he did not respond to repeated requests for his degrees “is without any basis, unwarranted and incorrect.” Sharma is said to have claimed he e-mailed his educational degrees to the government on March 31, 2016.

Despite the irregularity in his appointment, Sharma completed his term and was reappointed for a second term by the institute’s Board of Governors (BoG) on February 28 this year under the IIM Act.

This new law came into effect on January 31, 2018, and gives sweeping powers to all 20 business schools, including the appointment of directors, chairpersons and Board members.

Sources said the invalidity of Sharma’s first term was flagged by the MoE representative at the IIM-Rohtak BoG meeting on February 28 this year in which his reappointment was discussed and approved. The government’s objection was ignored.

During his term as IIM-Rohtak Director, Sharma co-authored several studies including one that predicted that the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in New Delhi in March 2020 would increase coronavirus cases “exponentially”.