IIM Rohtak director to be suspended until ‘misappropriation’ probe over

Chandigarh: The central govt on Thursday asked the chairman of the board of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Rohtak to either place Dheeraj Sharma, director of the institute, under suspension or send him on leave until the probe into alleged misappropriation of funds against him is completed.
The Centre also asked the board to hand over the charge of IIM Rohtak to another faculty member who has not been associated with the financial matters of the institute, and to ask Sharma to stay away from IIM's campus/rented area until further orders
The communication by Union ministry of education to Jai Dev Shroff, chairman of the board, IIM Rohtak, also asked the board to cancel the proposal for re-nomination of Neeraj Kansal as a member of the board, as per the agenda circulated for the 63rd meeting proposed to be held on March 17.
"This decision of the board should be cancelled as it is in contravention of Section 4 (I) (a) of the IIM Rules 2018..." the letter mentioned.
On March 5, the President ordered an inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of public funds at IIM Rohtak during Sharma's tenure as director. The investigation will include verification of the educational qualification documents of Sharma and other staff recruited at IIM. As per the orders issued by the higher education ministry, Prof Manoj Tiwari, director of IIM Mumbai, will conduct the probe and complete it in three months.
The probe was launched following an inquiry by the principal chief controller of accounts, ministry of education, which found serious irregularities and grave misappropriation of public funds at IIM Rohtak. These irregularities include presenting inflated figures regarding the financial health of IIM Rohtak and using such figures to pay a huge amount of variable pay (more than Rs 1 crore for each year) to the director of IIM Rohtak from 2018-19 onwards. Violations of General Financing Rules (GFR) 2017 provisions in managing the finances and procurements of the institute and gifting mobile phones and other inducements to unnamed people were also detected.
The President's order also mentioned that Sharma's degree was sought by the ministry repeatedly during his first term as director of IIM Rohtak from 2017-22, but it was not provided by the institute until the end of his tenure.