18 September,2026 04:43 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
The Bombay High Court quashed the punishment order compulsorily retiring the professor and directed TISS to pay him 50 per cent back wages from the date of his termination until the date of his superannuation. FILE PIC
The Bombay High Court (HC) has quashed an order by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) compulsorily retiring a professor for creating a WhatsApp group for TISS alumni, observing that merely creating such a group without the employer's permission cannot be a ground to end an accomplished career, news agency PTI reported.
The HC said the punishment imposed on the professor was "perverse" and "grossly disproportionate". Quoting English barrister and judge Lord Diplock, a bench of Justices MS Karnik and Sandesh Patil remarked, "you cannot use a sledge-hammer to crack a nut".
In its judgment passed on Wednesday, the bench noted that the only charge against the professor was that he had formed a WhatsApp group comprising TISS alumni and was using it to engage in the business of placement services.
The court observed that the punishment of compulsory retirement was perverse, and there was nothing to indicate that he was charging money for the placement services.
The WhatsApp group was only a platform for TISS alumni to share information useful to other members, the court noted.
Merely because permission had not been obtained from the institute to create the group would not be a cogent ground to impose such an excessive punishment, it added.
The HC also noted that the professor was a man of repute and had been employed as a professor at the Mumbai-based institute since 1985.
"Merely starting a WhatsApp group by an employee without the permission of the organisation itself it not sufficient to put an end to the long-standing accomplished career of a person," the court observed.
The bench quashed the punishment order compulsorily retiring the professor and directed TISS to pay him 50 per cent back wages from the date of his termination until the date of his superannuation.
The professor, in his plea, had sought the quashing of a 2017 order imposing the punishment of compulsory retirement on him. He had also sought a direction to TISS to reinstate him.
As per the plea, the professor was appointed as a professor at TISS in 1985, and the institute is also his alma mater.
The allegation against him was that he had created a WhatsApp group, which also used the institute's logo without the management's permission. The group was allegedly used for placement services and for soliciting students and alumni for his personal gain.
The professor, in his plea, said he was entitled to continue in service until the age of 65, but was penalised with compulsory retirement at 58. He claimed the punishment was disproportionate and that the relevant order therefore deserved to be quashed.
(With PTI inputs)
