Author Vickramm Sampath has accused the management of Symbiosis School of Media and Communication (SSMC), Bengaluru, of grave irregularities.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the author, who also served as the institute’s director for a period of 15 months till November this year, revealed that the management was least bothered about academic excellence. He accused the management of inaction, even when some students were molested by a few ‘visiting eminences’.
“Students danced at marathons, did menial jobs, some even got sexually molested by a few visiting eminences ---but none of this was ever addressed by the management in the Institute or her bosses...All that mattered was how much revenues were brought in, how much intake would be increased each year,” Sampath wrote.
In the rather confessional post, Sampath elaborated on his efforts to focus on academic excellence, in the period that he served as the institute’s director and the events that led to his resignation.
Saying that the Director was only a “Powerless Puppet” in the hands of the management, he wrote that his “duties” entailed far more than what he had expected.
“Little did i know, that my job description also meant handling murky land deals of the management, hiding their crimes of encroachment of valuable lake land in the city and standing in humiliating long queues in the houses and offices of local politicians. I confess that i played along for a while, but frustration kept building up,” Sampath wrote.
Sampath said in the post that his revolt against the management that tending to such tasks were not part of his job description, led to a show-cause notice coming his way. In return, he resigned from the institute.
Saying that he had faced insult and humiliation at the institute, he wrote, “I got no reply (for the resignation letter) . Within 12 hours a team was sent which blandly told me that I had crossed the line and hence my resignation is accepted. I had a bright future in the place ONLY if i remained servile and I had been the blue eyed boy of the management so far and had ruined my own career. Then in classic Cyrus Mistry style, I was asked to pack up within an hour and leave the place. They would throw some money at me to buy out my notice period, rather than have me for even an extra day at the place i toiled my life out to build, brick by brick….”
Sampath added that he was also not given a chance to speak to any faculty or staff member and his students before leaving the institute.
After his laptop and email ID card were confiscated, it was conveyed to the students and others that he was so terribly ill and had to leave the institute.
While a few of his students shared their respect and gratitude for having exposed the management, Vidya Yervadekar, principal director, Symbiosis Society denied all allegations.
Yervadekar told The Times of India that Sampath was never regular on campus and that his “unauthorized absence” had led to his resignation in November.
Expressing shock and ignorance of the molestation charge raised by Sampath, Yervadekar said that Sampath was supposed to take action at the time.
Yervadekar maintained that raising such allegations now was only a manner to damage the reputation of the institute.
“He used to travel a lot without the approval of the vice-chancellor of Symbiosis University. After his long, unauthorized absence on several occasions, the university registrar asked for his explanation. Instead of replying, Sampath sent his resignation letter which we accepted,” TOI quoted Yervadekar as saying.
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