Kerala HC Orders Reinstatement of Teacher Suspended Over Facebook Post

In ruling upholding the freedom of expression of government employees, the Kerala High Court recently instructed the Central University of Kerala (CUK) to reinstate Dr. Prasad Pannian as Head of the English department. Pannian had been suspended from the post on September 7, over a Facebook post, airing his views against a Dalit scholar’s arrest for breaking a glass panel. The order was the result of a writ petition filed by Pannian questioning his suspension.

The court observed that the act of suspension would be a stigma on the person’s career and reputation. “One cannot be prevented from expressing his views merely because he is an employee. In a democratic society, every institution is governed by democratic norms. Healthy criticism is a better way to govern a public institution,” Justice Mohammed Mushtaq said in the order on December 5.

Commenting on the professor’s views being seen as a criticism of the campus authorities, the court observed: “Posting on Facebook or social media has become a matter of concern for public authorities. It is a matter of formulation of opinion of others. As pointed out by this Court in several judgments, in the absence of any social media guidelines, such post has to be viewed to find out whether it would be detrimental to the collective interest of the University. The expression of opinion of a teacher in regard to an action cannot be considered as a criticism.”

In his Facebook post, the professor had supported the Dalit scholar who was arrested from the campus for breaking a glass panel worth only a couple of hundred rupees. The scholar, G Nagaraju, was jailed for this ‘crime’, and Mr. Pannian termed the university’s action as “disturbing” in his post.

 “An act of misdemeanour has been criminalised [and] is deeply disturbing… this is a minor offence that should have been settled on the campus itself. It is extremely saddening to know that our student is lying on the cold floor of the prison cell on charges of breaking a glass pane,” he had written.

Pannian was one of the first teachers in the university to publicly condemn the punishment and his post went viral in the social media.

It was Dr Vellikkeel Raghavan, the fifth respondent in Pannian’s writ petition, also an assistant professor at the same department, who filed a complaint about the post which resulted in the suspension.

While the academic community across the country hailed the reinstatement of Pannian, the professor, who is yet to receive the court’s order officially, told Newsclick that “The order upheld the importance of democratic values and freedom of expression in the academic circle,” adding, “This is a very important order since it also stresses on the importance of healthy criticism in public institutions.”

CUK faced severe criticism over the suspension of Pannian from across the globe. About 800 prominent figures signed an online petition to the President Ramnath Kovind, urging him to intervene in the matter. Those who signed include Slavoj Zizek, Bill Ashcroft, K Sathyanarayana, K Satchidanandan, J Devika, B Iqbal, etc.

This is the second time in this year, the university had to roll back from their punitive stands. Earlier, the administration revoked the dismissal order of a postgraduate student Akhil Thazhath following a series of protest conducted by Students Federation of India and an intervention from the district administration. Akhil was rusticated over a Facebook post as well. The administration alleged the student was unapologetic and dismissed him from the course. But, in reality, Akhil had submitted apology letters explaining his part and this was not included in the enquiry committee report.