Mumbai: Action against professor “in in full compliance with national regulations and government policies”, Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) has responded after outrage over serving show cause notice which asked its Hyderabad Off-Campus Assistant Professor why his “contract should not be terminated” after he took part in a protest called by students’ groups.

The institute also called media reports “biased” and “politically motivated”, requesting the media organisations for “balanced reporting” while offering clarification over the action taken by the institute against Arjun Sengupta, an Assistant Professor at School of Gender and Livelihoods, TISS Hyderabad.

TISS’ response comes in the wake of the institute serving a show cause notice against Sengupta for participating in an “unauthorised protest and and encouraging the Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF) and Progressive Students’ Organisation (PSO) for their acts raising voice” against the ongoing issues at the institute. The notice, issued on October 4, had threatened termination of Sengupta’s employment if he failed to provide a satisfactory explanation within seven days.

As reported by this newspaper earlier, several students and teachers — including TISS Teachers’ Association (TISSTA) — had come in support of Sengupta calling TISS’ actions “hasty, impulsive and ill-judged”. Sengupta, in his response to the notice, had criticised the institute for violating his rights, calling the process “factually unfounded, unconstitutional, and illegal.”

As media reports of the incident surfaced and outrage followed, TISS has again come up with a clarification. “We would like to clarify that all actions taken by TISS are in full compliance with national regulations and government policies. Our administrative decisions are guided by legal frameworks designed to ensure transparency and accountability,” the institute said.

The protest, organised by the Ambedkar Students Association and PSO, that sparked the move to send a memo to Sengupta by TISS raised several issues including the impending suspension of over 100 teaching and non-teaching staff and suspension of PhD scholar Ramadas KS who is fighting a case against the institute’s move in the Bombay High Court.

“There is no legitimate basis for protests by students or faculty. TISS has issued public notices on multiple occasions explaining the suspension of a Ph.D. scholar. Furthermore, the matter is currently sub judice, with proceedings pending in the Hon'ble Court of Law,” TISS said in its clarification.

“With respect to the employment of contractual faculty members under the Tata Education Trust (TET), it is clearly stated in their appointment letters that their positions are contract-based for the duration of the funding period. As is common practice across many universities and academic institutions, TISS employs both academic faculty and visiting professionals on a contractual basis. There is no valid claim to the permanency of these positions. However, in a humanitarian spirit, the institute’s authorities are actively working to secure an extension of funding,” TISS explained.

However, several contractual employees of TISS differed and contended that while their appointment letters were signed with the institute and not TET. “We are the employees of TISS as our appointment letters also state, we are not TET employees. This is just another excuse from the institute’s side to terminate the contracts of over 50% teaching staff,” said a contractual teachers at TISS whose appointment letter has been seen by the Free Press Journal. The letter has no mention of TET in it.