HC imposes fine on Director of NITTTRI

The Madras High Court today imposed costs of Rs 20,000 on the director of National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research Institute at Taramani here while dismissing his plea to vacate a stay on his order asking a professor of the institute to retire.
The court asked the director to permit professor T Gnanasambanthan to continue in service.
"For having acted mala fide, the director is directed to pay a cost of Rs 20,000 to Gnanasambhandan that too from his personal funds," Justice V Ramasubramnayan said in his order.
The court directed him to engage the services of the professor who was asked to retire in September 2013 as he was not holding a teacher's post.

Gnanasambanthan, who was appointed as Professor (EDP manager) in NITTTRI in 1995, had challenged the director's order informing him that the would retire on September 30 last as he was not holding a teaching post.
An interim stay of two weeks was granted on his petition following which a petition to vacate it was filed.

The Institute relieved the petitioner on October 30, 2013 on the ground that its petition for vacating stay was not disposed of within two weeks, and therefore the stay automatically was vacated by virtue of Article 226 (3) of the Constitution.
Justice V Ramasubramanyan said Article 226(3) was not mandatory and was only a directory and said Gnanasambhandan was certainly working on the academic side. The NITTTR and its director was attempting to take advantage of the nomenclature given to the post of him for setting scores with him, the judge said.

The Judge further said re-fixation of pay was not only motivated but also unjustified. He further said that if Gnanasambhandan was a non-teaching faculty member, his age of retirement would be only 60. But if he holds a teaching post, then his age of retirement would be 65.
The petitioner was guiding Ph.D students and if he is retired those students will be put to irreparable loss and hardship and he should be permitted to continue in service, the judge added.
Earlier, the professor had challenged revision of his pay scale in May 2010 following audit objections, placing him in ordinary grade and not academic and interim stay of recovery alone was granted.