Calcutta HC relief for Visva-Bharati professor penalised for tiff over lab space

The Calcutta high court ruled that penalty was imposed on the Visva-Bharati professor in an entirely illegal and arbitrary manner

KOLKATA: The Visva-Bharati University’s order to stop two increments of a biotechnology professor in March 2020 for quarrelling with a colleague over setting up a small laboratory space below the staircase of a campus building has been set aside by the Calcutta high court on Wednesday, according to the university’s faculty members.

he university’s executive council, at its meeting held on March 6, 2020, imposed a penalty on Choudhuri by withholding two salary increments with a cumulative effect. (File Photo)

Faculty members said biotechnology professor Tathagata Choudhuri had a quarrel with another professor, Kashinath Chatterjee, on November 17, 2019, over setting up space for small experiments below a staircase at one of the buildings on the sprawling campus at Santiniketan in Birbhum district.

The university’s executive council, at its meeting held on March 6, 2020, imposed a penalty on Choudhuri by withholding two salary increments with a cumulative effect.

Choudhuri told the high court that he had permission from his seniors to set up the laboratory space but the current management ignored it.

In the court order seen by HT, justice Kausik Chanda said the university first formed a one-member committee in November 2019 followed by a three-member committee in December to inquire into Chatterjee’s allegation that Choudhuri used abusive language during the verbal exchange. Choudhuri was suspended during the inquiry.

Submitted before the high court, the report of the three-member committee said that Chatterjee reportedly said during the dispute that he would kick the proposed laboratory while “Choudhuri thumped Chatterjee on the back and thanked him somewhat sarcastically.”

The report recommended a “token punitive measure against Choudhuri to send a message to the Visva-Bharati community.”

Justice Chanda said: “I am of the clear view that the impugned order dated March 16, 2020, cannot be sustained. The imposition of penalty has been done in an entirely illegal and arbitrary manner, disregarding the extant service rules and blatantly violating the principle of natural justice.“

“The university will restore the incremental benefits to the petitioner along with the arrears within a period of two weeks from the date of communication of this order,” the high court said.

The university authorities did not comment on the court order till Thursday evening.