St. Stephen’s College, which had suspended and then re-instated administrative officer Subhash Kumar Dash on the conditions that he would have to render an apology to the chairman and vice-chairman of the governing body and be paid only subsistence allowance from January to April, was directed by the High Court here to reinstate him without any conditions.
A Bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani passed the order taking on record the settlement reached by the parties based on a letter dated March 10, which had been sent by Mr. Dash to principal Valson Thampu. The letter was made public by Mr. Thampu and reported as unconditional apology by Mr. Dash.
Lawyers for Mr. Dash, Prashant Bhushan and Sunil Mathews had strongly objected to Mr. Thampu’s action. The court too did not find favour with this action of the Principal and had stated that Mr. Dash’s letter must not to be treated as admission of guilt.
The administrative officer has been allowed to resume duty from April 13. His lawyers, as part of the settlement, have undertaken to withdraw all cases initiated against Mr. Thampu, governing body member Deepak Mukherji and a Church of North India official.
Mr. Dash had accused the Bursar of financial misconduct. He had also alleged that the principal was trying to convert him to Christianity and was responsible for his depression.
Mr. Thampu had made public the entire correspondence with Mr. Dash by posting it on the college website, where he asked Mr. Dash to compose himself and that since the accusations levelled were serious Mr. Dash must submit it in the form of a proper complaint with relevant documents.
Mr. Dash was accused of circulating defamatory text messages and letters to the principal and other members of the governing body, allegedly under the influence of alcohol. He was suspended, after which he had appealed to the High Court. His plea was dismissed after the principal revoked his suspension, stating that the governing body will take a decision in the matter. The governing body suspended him once again.
In March, the governing body had agreed to re-instate him on conditional basis.
Published - April 10, 2015 12:00 am IST
