New Delhi: Two days after dismissing Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC-PM), as chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) in Pune, the founding society of the institute reinstated him Saturday, citing a “misunderstanding”, and urged him to continue in his role.
The Servants of India Society (SIS) had informed the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the interim vice-chancellor Thursday of its decision to replace Sanyal with retired Maharashtra High Court judge S.C. Dharmadhikari. The previous day, the SIS had written to Sanyal citing the institute’s ‘downfall’ and its poor performance in the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) as the reasons for his removal, stating that he had not taken any concrete steps or initiatives to improve the situation.
However, on Saturday, Sanyal took to X to refute the allegations against him and criticised the SIS. He said that while the SIS originally founded GIPE, it no longer provides funding; instead, collecting rent from the institute.
He also wrote to the president of SIS Damodar Sahoo refuting the allegations.
I had so far refrained from commenting on recent events at GIPE. However, I would like to put a few things on public record. SIS President Sahoo has raised two justifications for replacing me as Chancellor of GIPE. First, that I am somehow responsible for poor ‘B’ grade in NAAC… pic.twitter.com/4MSEmFhiyg
— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) April 5, 2025
Following this, on Saturday, Sahoo again wrote to Sanyal saying that the “misunderstandings” arose due to a lack of communication between him and the SIS. “It gives me great satisfaction and relief to inform you that the trustees are unanimously of the opinion that the letter I provided to you should be withdrawn immediately,” Sahoo said.
He added, “I am very interested in having a face-to-face discussion with you on various issues related to GIPE… If possible, I kindly request that you find time at your convenience to visit Bhubaneswar, and I will come to meet you there for a cordial discussion on the matters concerning GIPE.”
ThePrint reached both Sanyal and Sahoo via calls and messages for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
GIPE has been making headlines since last year, following the removal of its former vice-chancellor and economist Ajit Ranade by the then-chancellor Bibek Debroy in September 2024. After Ranade secured a stay from the court, Debroy resigned as chancellor.
However, in November, Ranade also stepped down, citing “personal reasons.”
Sahoo’s allegations vs Sanyal’s responses
In his series of posts on X, Sanyal said that he took over as the chancellor of GIPE in October 2024 and visited the campus for the first time in November, while the NAAC rating was given based on the data between 2018 and 2023. “Surely, those who are responsible for this rating should be held responsible,” he said.
In his letter dated 2 April, Sahoo alleged Sanyal did not respond to a letter he wrote to him.
Sanyal wrote in response, “Mr Sahoo stated that I did not reply in time to a letter sent on 24th March 2025. As can be easily verified, I was away in the UK to deliver lectures at LSE, Kings College etc. (all advertised on this platform). I returned late on the night of 30th March and on 31st March requested one of India’s most senior academics to look into it. She agreed a day later, but SIS chose to send this letter before I could write a reply.”
In his posts, Sanyal said that there have been many controversies and accusations of financial impropriety at GIPE over the years and that he has been attempting to resolve these matters in a transparent manner.
“A finance committee was set up as per UGC norms, including representatives of UGC, SIS, state govt etc. They raised several pertinent issues at their meeting on 29th Mar 2025. Here is just one example of suspicious happenings at GIPE campus. A full new institution called Western Business School claims to run from the same campus and has posted photos of GIPE on their website,” he posted on X. Sharing a screenshot of the pictures of the institute, Sanyal said that the photos are now being changed on the website.
“Their promotional material (pdf), now in our custody, is based entirely on claiming GIPE campus as their own!! It also states that it was set up by SIS. This issue was raised in the GIPE finance committee meeting. This is not a trivial issue as GIPE campus does not belong to the institution but to SIS, and in theory can be asked to vacate. Indeed, the iconic old building at GIPE is controlled by SIS and not normally accessible to GIPE students/faculty,” he said.
Asserting that SIS may have originally set up GIPE but no longer funds the institution, Sanyal said, “It is run entirely on student fees and taxpayer funding. Far from providing funds, SIS extracts rent from GIPE. This ranges from interest-free loans for land purchases by SIS to charges for all manner of ‘services’.”
In his post, Sanyal shared several letters from the SIS requesting payments from the institute. One such letter, dated 29 March, asked for more than Rs 11 lakh to cover expenses like the gardener’s salary, electricity charges, and other related costs. “There is no transparency on how these amounts are derived. These were also questioned by the finance committee,” he said.
“Note that I receive no remuneration for being Chancellor and normally it is just a ceremonial role. However, given the long-standing breakdown in governance, it is my duty to hard-working students/faculty to step in and ask the right questions; I will continue to do so,” Sanyal said.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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