Dr RK Pachauri will stay on as the Executive Vice-Chairman of TERI - a newly created post.
Dr Ajay Mathur today took charge as the Director General of the Delhi-based non-profit TERI, replacing Dr RK Pachauri, who has been facing a sexual harassment case since last year. But TERI also informed its employees that Dr Pachauri will stay on as the Executive Vice-Chairman - a newly created post.
Sources said he will exercise executive powers and retain his fifth floor office.
Last year in February, a 29-year-old researcher at TERI had accused Dr Pachauri of sexual harassment and filed a complaint with the police.
Dr Pachauri, a world famous climate scientist, had then gone on leave from TERI. He also stepped down as the chief of the UN's top body on climate change, the IPCC, and the Prime Minister's advisory body on climate change.
He returned in July 2015 following a court order allowed him to resume work at TERI except the head office at Habitat Centre and Gurgaon.
The woman has accused TERI of not supporting her case.
A fortnight ago, a young man working with TERI complained to the police that he had been approached by at least 3 senior officials of the non-profit who asked him to get the woman to agree to an out-of-court settlement.
TERI has already refuted the charge. Today, Dr Pachauri's legal counsel Ashish Dixit, too, dismissed the accusation. "He claims that he was pressurised in July, so why is he waking up now? In my legal view, he is lying," he said.
The Delhi Police has completed its investigation in the case and the High Court will hear the matter on Thursday.