President Droupadi Murmu approves probe against IIM Rohtak, its Director

Separately, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which is hearing a plea against Sharma’s first appointment over allegations that he did not meet the educational criteria for the post, Friday reserved its final order.

In its order, the Ministry said the probe against IIM Rohtak and Director Sharma will be conducted by IIM Mumbai Director, Professor Manoj Tiwari, as the inquiry officer. Tiwari is to submit his report within three months.

This is the first such action after amendments to the IIM Act in 2023 gave the Education Ministry greater control over the IIMs. The Indian Express had first reported on February 24 that the Centre had sought the President’s approval for such an inquiry.

According to the Ministry, the inquiry has been launched based on an earlier probe by its Principal Chief Controller of Accounts, which had found “serious irregularities and grave misappropriation of public funds at IIM Rohtak”.

This, according to the order, included: “Wrongfully inflating the financial health of the institute and using such manipulated figures to pay huge amount of variable pay (more than Rs. 1 crore for each year) to the Director of IIM Rohtak, for the years from 2018-19 onwards; violating General Financial Rules 2017 in managing the finances of the institute; and procuring and gifting mobile phones and other inducements to unnamed persons.”

The institute, as reported by The Indian Express earlier, has maintained that the variable pay to Sharma was given as per the IIM Act and paid only after IIM Rohtak’s Regulations under the IIM Act and Rules were notified.

The Ministry’s order said it had “repeatedly sought” Sharma’s degree certificate during his first term as Director, but it was not sent by IIM Rohtak “till the fag end” of the tenure. Sharma first served as IIM Rohtak Director from 2017 to 2022. He was reappointed in the same year and his current term is set to end in 2027.

According to the order, the inquiry will look into the “omission/commission of acts” with respect to the “irregularities” mentioned and will also cover the method of storing and verifying the degree certificates of the Director and other faculty at IIM Rohtak, and the procedure followed in “sending/withholding replies” including queries raised by the Ministry of Education.

The inquiry comes almost three years after the Ministry first told the Punjab and Haryana HC in 2022 that Sharma had allegedly “misrepresented” his credentials, leading to his illegal appointment. According to the Ministry, a first-class Bachelor’s degree was necessary for appointment as Director, but Sharma had a second division at undergraduate level.

On Friday, as the HC heard a plea by one Amitava Chaudhary, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Satya Pal Jain, appearing for the Centre, repeated the allegations against Sharma and said he had “misled” both the Government and the court. The ASG told the court that Sharma had “concealed the fact that he held a second-class degree, making him ineligible as per the advertisement’s criteria”.

Sharma’s counsel contended that Sharma was appointed through “special nomination”, making the advertisement’s eligibility criteria inapplicable.

The petitioner’s counsel said even nominated candidates must meet the criteria and pointed out that two nominated candidates were previously disqualified for this reason.