Supreme Court upholds suspension of Dalit research scholar from TISS, relaxes term

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a decision of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) suspending Dalit PhD scholar Ramadas KS for his alleged misconduct and anti-national activities but relaxed it to the period already undergone.

A bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan reduced the period of suspension of the PhD scholar from two years to the period undergone till Friday.

A TISS empowered committee on April 17 2024 suspended Ramadas from the institute for two years and debarred his entry across all its campuses.

The bench noted the submissions of advocate Rajeev Kumar Panday, appearing for TISS, and perused the documents which prompted the committee to suspend the scholar for two years.

The bench, which did not set aside the order of suspension, took note of the fact that Ramadas was doing his PhD from the institution and should be allowed to conclude it.

Panday referred to the records and alleged misconduct of the research scholar to argue that the Bombay High Court was correct in not interfering with the suspension.

The empowered committee decided against Ramadas, represented by senior advocate S Muralidhar, and found him in breach of the honour code, rules and regulation of TISS and banned him for two years.

The Bombay High Court on March 12 dismissed Ramadas' plea challenging his suspension by TISS following which he moved the top court.

The scholar was suspended for his participation in a demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and for organising the screening of a documentary about the Ayodhya dispute.

The TISS alleged he broke its rules by participating in "politically motivated protests" despite being supported by Central government-funded scholarships for scheduled caste students.

“In the …facts and circumstances, having ourselves considered the material on record, we do not find that the impugned committee report suspending the petitioner for two years, suffers from any perversity or illegality. The impugned report and consequent action of suspension are based on material available on record and it is proportionate. We find that this is not a fit case to interfere. There is no merit in the petition and the same is dismissed,” the Bombay High Court had said.

Ramadas first enrolled at TISS in 2015, for a Master’s degree in Media and Cultural Studies, and was also awarded a scholarship by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

In 2017, he enrolled in the integrated MPhil and PhD programme in Development Studies, but deferred admission for a year and joined in 2018.

He successfully finished his MPhil degree in 2021.

On February 8, 2023, he was awarded a national fellowship for scheduled caste students on the basis of his performance in the UGC-NET examination.