Pachauri issues statement over stepping down from TERI

New Delhi, April 22: Accused of sexual assault by his former women colleagues in the recent past, environmentalist R K Pachauri has stepped down as a member of the governing council of TERI to "get engaged in other interests".

The news comes after reports of the council 'severing' all its associations with Pachauri came yesterday. While the Governing Council had also decided to pay the dues for the remainder of his tenure, Pachauri maintained that his term had already ended on March 31, 2016. Issuing a statement over the news, he said "it was time for me to move away and get engaged in other interests which I have harboured over the past few years for activities at the global level".

Amid statements by TERI officials that Pachauri has been removed from the Council, Pachuri said that he issued the statement over "stepping down" from TERI to confirm that the act was voluntary.

He further added, "TERI staff was its greatest treasure which under the new Director General will take the Institute to much greater heights in the years ahead."

I have had the good fortune of leading TERI for three decades and a half and have received the priceless contribution from thousands of colleagues over the years in building up this Institute to level of an outstanding organisation.

[Read: TERI: RK Pachauri removed from Council and organisation]

"I began with TERI as the articulation of my dream and humanity's call for a major intellectual resource, which has now grown to a size and spread straddling the whole world, with a staff strength of around 1200 professionals and world class infrastructure and expertise," he said.

"I have also benefited greatly from the support I have always received from TERI's Governing Council, and would like to place on record my gratitude to them, beginning with the late Darbari Seth, my inspiration and leader in the initial years of TERI's development," he said.

An FIR was launched against Pachauri for a sexual harassment allegation made by a junior sudent.

OneIndia News