President Pratibha Patil's secretariat has written to Orissa Chief Secretary B K Patnaik asking about action taken against the principal of a government college who has been accused of passing casteist remarks against a Dalit woman lecturer and mentally harassing her. The letter from the Presidents Secretariat was sent to the Chief Secretary recently. The Dalit woman,an English lecturer at FM College in Balasore district,had accused the principal of the institution,Gyana Ranjan Panda,of verbally abusing her and passing casteist remark in April 2009,a day after she finished her class 15 minutes before the scheduled time. Panda,when contacted,denied the allegations saying he was trying to discipline the staff. There have been seven inquiries in this regard. I fail to understand how the eighth probe found me guilty, he said.Higher Education Secretary Madhusudan Padhi said departmental proceedings will be against Panda.
