High Court relief for vice-chancellor of NUJS in the ‘sexual harassment’ case

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has granted relief to Prof. (Dr.) Nirmal Kanti Chakraborti, the vice-chancellor (V-C) of the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata, in a case of sexual harassment filed by a faculty member against him.

The bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Prasenjit Biswas upheld the Local Complaint Committee’s (LCC) decision to dismiss the complaint against Chakraborti, citing the time limitations outlined in the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013.

The complaint was filed on December 26, 2023, by a faculty member who accused Chakrabarti of making inappropriate advances between 2019 and April 2023, allegedly linking professional benefits to personal interactions. The complaint was filed only after the enquiry was initiated by the Executive Council into her on December 21, 2023.

The court highlighted that the sexual harassment complaint was filed much later than the statutory deadline. The delay, coupled with the absence of credible evidence, led the LCC to dismiss the case.

Under the POSH Act, complaints must be filed within three months of the last alleged incident, with a possible three-month extension in exceptional cases. The complainant, however, failed to justify the substantial delay in bringing forward the case.

It was argued that prior to the harassment allegations, the complainant had faced administrative scrutiny for professional lapses, including failure to complete a university project and not submitting necessary financial documentation.

The court pointed out that key decisions, like withholding promotions, were made by the university’s Executive Council—a panel of senior academics and jurists—not by Prof. Chakrabarti acting alone.

Accordingly, the order of the single judge was set aside and the order of the LCC dismissing the complaint

was restored.