KARACHI: The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) has sacked one of its faculty members for what it called “grave violations” of its code of conduct — a charge the faculty member concerned denied vehemently.

A statement issued by IBA official Irfan Qamar on Thursday justified the decision to terminate the services of Dr M. Mohsin Butt, a professor of marketing in the School of Business Studies, saying the decision by the Board of Governors (BoG) of the IBA “is based on his repeated and insistent grave violations against the IBA Code of Conduct”.

“Dr Butt had been maligning fellow faculty members, using abusive, threatening and offensive language towards them and the IBA management, directly or indirectly impacting IBA’s image and reputation.

“Mohsin Butt was warned multiple times to change his behaviour and to take cognizance of IBA’s Code of Conduct. The decision to terminate Dr Butt’s employment is aimed at preserving the IBA’s values and policies,” the statement said.

However, Prof Butt termed the allegations fabricated.

In a social media post, he stated: “Today I received a termination letter from IBA Karachi because the competent (extremely incompetent) authority decided to do so without any justification. With the help of Allah and your support, I will raise my voice on all forums for this shameless and illegal decision…”

He later told Dawn that there was no reason given in his termination letter and the IBA BoG or its committee did not provide him any opportunity to defend himself against fabricated allegations.

In a video statement posted on social media and also shared with Dawn, he appealed to caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar, who is patron of the IBA, to set up an impartial inquiry committee to look into what’s going on in the IBA.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2023