Bombay HC
The court noted that Garain was a person of repute who had been employed as a professor at the institute since 1985. It quashed the order compulsorily retiring him and directed TISS to pay him 50% of his back wages from the date of termination until his superannuation.
A bench of Justices M S Karnik and Sandesh Patil, in its Sept 16 judgment, termed the punishment imposed on Dr Swapan Garain “perverse” and “grossly disproportionate”. Quoting English judge Lord Diplock, the bench said, “You cannot use a sledge-hammer to crack a nut. The court said the sole charge against Garain was that he had created a WhatsApp group comprising TISS alumni and used it to engage in placement services. Merely creating the group without permission could not be a cogent ground for excessive punishment, it said.
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has quashed the compulsory retirement of a Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) professor for creating a WhatsApp group for TISS alumni, holding that merely creating such a group without the institute’s permission could not justify ending an accomplished career. It noted there was nothing to indicate that he had charged money for the services. The group, titled ‘TISSians Career Impact2’, was a platform to share information that could be useful to other members, the court noted.