Arbitrary Firing of Shri Shyam Manohar

(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 Shyam Manohar was terminated from his services in January 2010. He was working in campus since May 2006. During this period, he was never given any renewal letter regarding his contractual employment. However, his name regularly appeared on duty charts throughout this period; he was given official duty slips by the IITK MT Section, and he was paid the agreed upon salary.

  • He was hired through the Sainik Kalyan Nigam, having served in the armed forces for 17 years before taking retirement in 2001.

• When he applied to the MT section in 2006, he was told that he would be given the job ONLY if he brought his entire family to IIT Kanpur. The reason behind this condition was that IIT Kanpur required drivers who were available year-­‐round on a 24/7 basis. 

• Shri Shyam Manohar worked as both driver and conductor, fulfilling regular and emergency duties of all kinds. Accordingly he was given a Type I quarter as accommodation and his children were given admission in Campus / Central School within IIT Kanpur.

• With this termination of his employment, he will also now be asked to vacate the Type I quarter that he was allotted. His children, one each of whom is in Campus and Central School, while one is studying in college, will be forced to withdraw from school. The entire family, thus, will be disrupted economically and educationally, after having been brought to IIT Kanpur on the insistence of the very MT Section that is now responsible for this disruption.

Issues to consider:

• • He was given no notice before being fired, he learned the same only through his duty charge. When he enquired, he was told that the contract with the Sainik Kalyan Nigam had expired and, as a result, he no longer had a job. He had been given no prior intimation regarding the contract’s expiration date or the likelihood of his employment coming to an end. 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?

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

  • 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?