Academicians protest against appointment of IIM-Rohtak's director

A group of academicians have written to the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management Rohtak protesting the reappointment of Dheeraj Sharma as the Director for a second time after his qualifications were alleged to be inadequate. They have demanded his immediate suspension and further removal

Sharma, who had secured Second Division in his Bachelor’s degree was not eligible for the post as it required a First Class Degree as per the advertisement of the job. The academics have contested that instead of nullifying his previous term of five years, Sharma has been given a second term. The ministry of education, on March 28, issued a show-cause notice issued to Sharma, contending that he has not furnished his degrees despite repeated reminders. Sharma held the post between March 2017 and February 2022 in his first term, before he was reappointed in 2022.

“If Dr Sharma has been nominated as Director (that is without following due process for an appointment), it may be noted that there is no provision in the IIM Act for such nomination, especially in the current scenario where Dr Sharma usurped his previous term illegally displacing public interest,” the letter states.

The academics have further said that in the CV that Sharma has submitted to the education ministry for his previous appointment, he has said that he became a full-time professor at IIM Ahmedabad in May 2014. An RTI reply by the Board of Governors in IIM Ahmedabad states that Sharma resigned from IM Ahmedabad in February 2019.

“In IIM Rohtak his position was that of a Director, which is an administrative position and is not an academic position, like that of a Professor. So, the available data does reflect that Dr Sharma had only around 4 years and 10 months of experience as a full professor when he was (re) appointed/nominated as Director of IIM Rohtak,” the academics have written in the letter.

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