St Stephens lifts officers suspensionIn a sudden and unexpected turn of events, the principal of St Stephens College Valson Thampu revoked the suspension order of administrative officer Subha Kumar Dash stating that the matter will now be discussed by the governing body on Friday. Meanwhile, the petition in Delhi high court challenging the suspension and alleging conversion attempt by Thampu was transferred to another bench of the court on Wednesday. The matter will be heard on Thursday. The petition, which was listed before Justice Hima Kohli, was transferred as she recused herself from hearing the matter since she was a student of St Stephens. Thampu said, I revoked the suspension order so that the governing body can take an independent and unbiased view on the matter. If I dont revoke the suspension, the body may feel obliged to honour it. Also, I wont attend the meeting scheduled for December 19. Earlier in the day Dash lodged a protest with Thampu for sending cops to his house to persuade him for a compromise. College sources said Dash wrote the letter to the principal asking him to desist from misusing police to intimidate him. Thampu, however, refuted the allegations and said he never wanted to take disciplinary action. But my hands are tied. I wrote a letter to the police on November 17 to help him in de-addiction and also counsel him because my advice went unheeded. A senior teacher, Ashutosh Mathur, from Sanskrit department also counseled him without any results, he said. A section of teachers and college staff believe the suspension was revoked deliberately to negate a possibility of an injunction by the HC on Thursday against the government body meeting. Thampu has put out two detailed notes regarding the issue on the college website, including some SMSs exchanged between him and other members of the governing body regarding Dash. Dash refused to comment on whether he will withdraw his petition and said his legal counsel will decide on action to be taken before the HC.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 08:53:41 +0000