Prof Narendra Nayak
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Jul 20: The wheels of justice grind slow, but they grind fine and for sure. This is the story of the long struggle of Shakuntala  Kamath, MA, wife of Late Manjunath Kamath, MSc, who was a lecturer at the Besant Junior College before he passed away, has been fighting for justice for the pasr two decades after being unlawfully terminated by the management of the Narayana Guru College, Mangalore.

While Narayana Guru was a social reformer, the management of the college bearing his name is doing things that would have caused great grief to him if he were to be alive today. They have unlawfully terminated from service this lady who spent the last two decades under great tension even losing her husband who was a pillar of strength to her throughout her struggle until the pillar collapsed unable to bear the tension of the burden of the legal battle which started from the educational appellate tribunal of Dakshina Kannada to the highest court in the land.

It was from the corridor of the Narayana Guru College to the street outside the district commissioners’ office at Mangalore. She has had to spend the rest of her life, sell her home, lose her husband and had to make every sort of sacrifice in search of justice. But, as a person who guided her and stood by her side throughout this epic battle, I am proud to say that she never wavered even once. Perhaps as she says I was the only one outside her immediate family to support her in this long struggle. In my case too I have had to face the ‘wrath’ of the management of this college who had even tried to get in touch with the management of Kasturba Medical College where I was then employed at that time but it did not work to any extent because of my firm stand and that the management of the college was more afraid of me than ready to oblige them.

Her story is as follows: After securing second rank in MA (political science) from the Mangalore University in 1988, she joined the Narayana Guru Junior College as a lecturer on July 21, 1989. Upto August 23, 1991 she had a very smooth and cordial relationship with the management that is the Akhila Bharatha Billava Union and the Narayana Guru Educational Trust, both of which are registered bodies. She was also made a permanent employee on January 23, 1992 as the affiliation commission of the Mangalore University had objected to a temporary employee being the principal. Soon after she was given this status she became eligible for salary under the regulations of the Mangalore University until then she had been drawing a salary of Rs 1200 per month while the government scales were pegged atleast several times of that. In fact that pay was that of a class IV employee according to the scales of pay for government employees. When she demanded for her rightful dues the retribution was swift.  A retired employee of another college who is now no more was brought to the college on June 10, 1992  and she was verbally ordered by the then president Late Damodar Suvarna to hand over charge to him. When she demanded for the same in writing and a relieving order in black and white it was refused and the keys were forcibly taken from her by a lower grade employee. Then followed the legal battle, the police complaints and the mayhem. The locks of her chamber were broken and the documents were taken away. Though she had been relieved from the duties of administration she was asked to continue as a lecturer which she did after she had been relieved from her duties as a principal in writing.

 That was however a trick. A letter had been dispatched to her residence by registered post which went back to the sender as there was nobody at home to receive the same. On June 27 when she went to sign the attendance register she was told that it had been shifted to the chambers of the president and she would have to sign it there. That was another trick to make it seen that she was absent from her duties. This was followed by the appearance of another retired principal who summoned the police to stop her from entering the premises. Following this she had no other recourse but to go for the due process of law. She filed an appeal at the education appellate tribunal of Dakshina Kannada in July, 1992. Then began her long battle for justice.

Though she had won her case at the education appellate tribunal at Mangalore in 2000, the management preferred to appeal to the High court which they promptly lost. The case was then taken to Supreme Court which delivered the judgment in favor of the aggrieved teacher and ordered the management reinstate her and pay her salary in 2003. The termination from service was judged to be illegal as it had not followed any due process of law. But, the management refused to acknowledge the orders. So, she had to write to the management stating that she would attend duties from April, 2003. There was no reply to that and she took the initiative to report for duty. But she was rebuffed by the principal, who told her that he had no instructions from the management about her appointment. After that she was appointed as ‘spare hand’ lecturer on salary of Rs 1000 per month. She was not assigned any duties but was given a table and chair in the office room and asked to sit there. The usual harassment followed and she filed for contempt of court at the High court of Karnataka. Her dues were not paid even then. Then she had to file for execution and a sum of Rs 1,33,000 was deposited in the court at Mangalore though she had to get an amount of nearly Rs 5.5 lac. The legal battles for several years and in the process, losing her house in 2007, her husband in 2010, who had succumbed to heart disease unable to bear the tensions of his wife’s suffering, she continued her struggles and was awarded another sum of Rs 2,00,000 in 2011 which still left Rs 2,09,000 due to her unpaid. To recover this amount she had to again recourse to the court of law which has finally awarded her the decree and sent the bailiff to seize the premises of the college on the July 19.  The defendant Navinchandra Suvarna however managed to be absconding at that time and his arrival is awaited as this goes to press.

However, the arrears are still due for the period of service up to 2003 March only. Her dues till date have to be cleared and the further processes of law are going on. Shakunatala had complained to the President of India, Karnataka State Women’s Commission and had appeared before that seven times before giving up as the opposite party the principal of the college had not appeared before that. She had even sat in protest in front of the office of the deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada District. But still full justice eludes her. The due legal processes have seen to it that the dues to her till 2003 are recovered. But, there are more years of service left for her to retire at the age of 60 in 2022. Now we have to wait and see as to what is going to happen to this college? Is it going to be closed down and sealed? What is going to be the fate of the students then? How that is the management of a group of institutions with a long list of them does not have the couple of lacs to pay a poor lecturer as ordered by the court?