Arbitrary Firing of Shri Ram Prakash

(A summary of the case is below. More details can be find in this report by concerned community members.)

Brief background of the individual:

• • Shri Ram Prakash’s services were terminated on 23rd Oct. 2010. He was working in campus from 2001 onwards on contract.

  • He came to IITK through the Sainik Kalyan Nigam, an organization that helps retired army men find employment.

  • At IITK he has been driving various official vehicles and buses on a regular basis. He was the first one to be hired under such contract as a driver in the motor transport section (there are ten other drivers on contract who were hired after him).

  • His work required almost seven days engagement and often more than 8 hours as there is perpetual shortage of drivers. He and all the other such drivers on contract have been given Type I houses and a telephone connection perhaps due to the nature of their duties.

  • Till 2009 he was being paid Rs. 5000/ per month but for the last one year it was raised to 7500/. He was not enrolled in PF scheme.Besides this he gets a paltry pension from army as well for his earlier service.

  • He is 52 years old. He has three children who are dependent on him economically, two daughters in KV and a son in a private engineering college, and therefore this employment has a crucial role to play in the lives of his family at present. At the moment he has left IITK after serving for 10 years.

  • He has met the MT in charge, DD and the registrar, each of them saying that they are helpless and the other one is supposed to take decision regarding him.

Issues to consider:

• • RP was given no notice before being fired, or for that matter any reason at all. He learned the same only through his duty charge. While It is admirable that IITK shows respect to army personnel by rehiring them after their retirement, how is this respect being shown when such retired army personnel’s employment is terminated abruptly and arbitrarily?

  • Even if IITK determined that it needs fewer drivers, why should Shri Ram Prakash who was the senior most (in terms of number of years worked in the Institute) should be asked to leave first?

  • Since PF was not deducted for them, they were unceremoniously thrown out without any separation dues. Why could IITK not make any attempt to find another employment on campus for them?

  • How humane it is that these individuals who moved from well­‐established homes to this new place and painstakingly re­‐established their families here abruptly and without any reason find themselves without jobs. Along with the loss of job, their right to stay in the IIT Kanpur campus has been taken away from them. Their children are at important stages of their education whose continuation is now uncertain. What will be their future? How is the Institute justified in thus rendering the future uncertain for an entire family one of whom has served the Institute honestly for more than 10 years?