Supreme Court relief to ex-NUJS VC; drops its direction to have sexual harassment case recorded in resume
Court deletes portion of September judgment requiring permanent record of harassment allegations against former NUJS Vice Chancellor Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti
The Supreme Court recently modified its September 12 judgment that had mandated former National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) Vice Chancellor Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti to permanently record allegations of sexual harassment against him in his professional resume. The Bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and PB Varale deleted this directive after considering an expunction application filed by Chakrabarti.
The original case involved a complaint under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act (POSH Act), which was dismissed on limitation grounds without examination of merits. Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Madhavi Divan, representing Chakrabarti, argued that permanently recording unadjudicated allegations caused serious prejudice and violated natural justice principles.
The Court agreed that the direction was inappropriate since there was no factual finding against Chakrabarti. The Bench clarified that its initial intent was merely to bring public awareness about the incident, but without a merits-based finding, it was unjust to impose a lifelong professional stigma. Accordingly, the Court allowed the expunction application and deleted the relevant portion of the earlier judgment.