A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday upheld the formation of the Centre for Professional and Advanced Studies (CPAS) by the State government and approved by the Mahatma Gandhi University for managing the self-financing institutions run by the university.
The Bench comprising Justice K.Vinod Chandran and Justice V.G..Arun, however, found that the termination of employees including the teachers of these self-financing institutions after they were brought under the control of the CPAS was arbitrary and illegal.
The court, while setting aside a single judge's verdict upholding the termination of the services of permanent employees, ordered the university to restore them to the original posts. The court also directed the university to deem it that they had been in the service of the university uninterruptedly with all benefits. Besides,they should be deployed with their consent in the CPAS in accordance with the requirement on the same terms and conditions they had with the university, the court further ordered.
Allowing partially a batch of appeals against the single judge’s verdict by the sacked employees, the court observed that the action in terminating the employees of the self-financing institutions on the grounds of abolition of posts even while the institutions were functioning under the newly formed society “smacks of legal malice”.
The court, however, said that the employees could be retrenched if they lacked qualification or they were not required because of abolition of a course or posts, with six months’ notice or pay in lieu of notice and payment of compensation of one month’s salary for every completed year of service under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act.
