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.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 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.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. 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. Merely creating the group without permission could not be a cogent ground for excessive punishment, it said.Garain had approached the HC challenging a 2017 order imposing compulsory retirement and seeking his reinstatement. According to his plea, he had joined TISS as a professor in 1985 and was also an alumnus of the institute.The disciplinary action stemmed from allegations that Garain had created the group using TISS’s logo and used it for services including soliciting students and alumni for personal gain.Garain contended that he was entitled to continue in service until the age of 65 but was compulsorily retired at 58. He argued that the punishment was disproportionate to the alleged misconduct and should therefore be quashed. PTI
