New Delhi: The Union environment ministry has removed a Jawaharlal Nehru University professor from the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority ( EPCA ), according to a notification released recently. The order issued on July 4 announced the removal of Atul Kumar Johri — a professor at the School of Life Sciences at the university who had been accused of sexually harassing students and was even arrested in March for it.The notification also said it had removed another member from EPCA, Professor Mukesh Khare of the department of civil engineering in IIT Delhi, following his resignation that was handed in a few months ago. It further stated that the environment ministry had extended EPCA’s tenure till October 3, 2018 until further orders, after the expiry of its two-year term on July 4.A source in EPCA confirmed this development and said both the members were not regulars in meetings. A senior ministry official also said they were currently on the look-out for replacements, adding that Johri was removed due to the allegations of misconduct.Professor Mukesh Khare told TOI he had resigned several months ago due to personal reasons. “My resignation was handed in long back, and the notification is a confirmation of its acceptance,” he said. Johri was unavailable for comments despite repeated attempts to contact him.The Delhi high court had recently given JNU’s internal complaints committee two more weeks to complete its investigation into Johri’s alleged misconduct.

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