Mumbai: Students at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) are protesting the termination from employment of Murali Karnam, an assistant professor in law and human rights at the Human Rights Academic Centre or Nodal Centre for Excellence in Human Rights Education, and are collecting testimonials that they hope to present to the Institute.
After the Central University Grants Commission (UGC) defunded three academic centres at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on 24 March, and the contracts of twenty faculty members expired at the time, UGC funding was renewed for one year and TISS reinstated all the faculty members except Professor Karnam, who was issued a termination notice on 19 April.
“I studied Master of Law (LLM) at TISS from 2014-15 and Professor Karnam taught us public law during that period, and supervised my dissertation and fieldwork. He was extremely helpful and well-informed. We want to collect testimonials that reflect this and hopefully present a good case to TISS soon,” said alumna Sukanya Shantha.
“Though I was not taught by him, since I was interested in law and social justice I often took advice from Professor Murali. It is important for students to have helpful guidance and I believe the reasons for Professor Murali’s termination need to be looked into,” said Radha Soneji, who is currently an LLM student at TISS.
“We object to the termination of professor Murali because it was not for his work but for the political positions of his,” said Abid Faheem, General Secretary, TISS Students’ Union. A circular released last week by the Union read, “It is a fact that Prof. Murali has been removed for more than just ‘administrative’ reasons. He has not been given 1 month notice period. No communication of the purpose, guidelines and outcome of the [review] has been shared by TISS… The administration should… hold a democratic conversation with all the sections of the Institute – teachers, students and non-teaching staff to build an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect.”
When approached for comment, Director of TISS, Professor S. Parasuraman, said, “Decisions on employment are taken based on comprehensive performance reviews, and follow protocol. No hasty decision has been taken.”
