The Servants of India Society (SIS) – the trust which runs the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) in Pune--on Saturday reinstated Sanjeev Sanyal as the chancellor of the institute, two days after he was removed from the post. In a letter addressed to Sanyal, president of SIS Damodar Sahoo blamed lack of communication "between you and the Servants of India Society” for the misunderstanding. In the letter, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, Sahoo said he received Sanyal’s email dated April 4. "I am thankful to you, that you have graciously furnished a detailed explanation to all our concerns, written in my letter. From the content of your letter, I came to know and became satisfied that, as the Chancellor of our Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, you have decided to take suitable steps in enhancing and protecting the glory of Gokhale Institute. Sanjeevji, this misunderstanding happened due to lack of communication between you and the Servants of India Society,” the letter read. Sahoo went on to say that following the receipt of Sanyal’s letter, the matter was discussed with trustees in details. "It gives me great satisfaction and relief to convey to you that trustees are of the unanimous opinion that that letter given to you by me ought to be withdrawn with immediate effect,” the letter read. Asking Sanyal to shoulder the responsibility of GIPE as before, Sahoo requested him to consider the previous letter as null and void. “Further I am much interested to have a face to face discussion with you on various issues (sic) of GIPE.I request if possible please make time according to your convenience to visit Bhubaneshwar and I will go to meet you there and have a cordial discussion on the issues of GPIE," read the letter. The letter comes a day after a resolution was passed to replace Sanyal with retired judge of the Bombay High Court Justic S C Dharmadhikari, following which Sanyal take to Twitter to both refute the allegations against him as well as hit hack at the SIS. Sanyal said the SIS founded the GIPE but no longer funds it. It instead extracted rent form the institute and set up an instititute called Western Business School on the campus. Earlier on Saturday, Vice President of SIS Atmanand Mishra accused President Damodar Sahoo and secretary Milind Deshmukh of 'hollowing out the society' over the last few years and not following due process in removing Sanyal as GIPE’s Chancellor. Sahoo's accusations In a letter dated April 2, Sahoo cited the recent ‘B’ grade National Assessment and Accreditation Council's (NAAC) accreditation received by GIPE as a reason for removing Sanyal for the post. A lack of response from Sanyal to a letter by Sahoo about recruitment at the institute was the second reason Sahoo cited for his removal. Sanyal and Mishra's response Sanyal wrote that he took over as Chancellor of GIPE only in October 2024 and that the NAAC review was based on data from 2018-2023, therefore he could not be held responsible for the poor grade. As for a lack of response to Sahoo’s letter dated March 24, Sanyal said that he was in the United Kingdom to deliver lectures at various colleges and returned only on March 30. After returning, he asked Vice Chancellor of JNU Santishree Pandit to form a committee to look into the recruitment process at GIPE, to which she agreed. Sanyal claimed before he could inform Sahoo about the update, he received a letter that a new Chancellor would be appointed. Mishra told The Indian Express, "I have served 40 years in the society. But in Sahoo’s Presidency and Deshmukh’s Secretaryship, the whole structure of the society has been hollowed out. Deshmukh.has changed in the last few years after Sahoo became President. They take some action earlier, and move a resolution later and get everybody’s signatures. They treat the society as their personal property, even the charity commissioner is not helping." Mishra added that he had not been asked to sign the decision to remove Sanyal, and he would not do it. "There is a process to remove someone, natural justice has to act out. A show cause notice has to be sent and the person has to be given time to explain himself. The matter of removing someone comes after that." Mishra also said that according to court judgments, circular resolution could be used for regular functioning but for serious matters, physical meetings are a must. However, he claimed that no such meeting was called before Sanyal was removed. Sanyal accuses SIS of extracting money from GIPE Meanwhile, Sanyal accused the SIS of extracting rent from GIPE. "SIS may have originally set up GIPE but no longer funds the institution. 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," said Sanyal in a post on X. In the post, he attached various letters from the SIS demanding money from the institute. A letter dated March 29 demanded over Rs 11 lakh as gardener’s salary, electricity charges, and other such costs. Sanyal also said a completely new institute ‘Western Business School’ claims to run from the same campus and has posted photos of GIPE campus on its website. He wrote, "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." Sahoo and Deshmukh did not respond to calls or messages for a comment.
