[Veterinary Student Death] Evidence Suggests Maladministration, Dereliction Of Duty: Kerala HC Declines To Interfere With Suspension Of VC For Fair Inquiry

Dr Saseendranath was suspended pending enquiry on grounds of dereliction of duty and lack of sincerity over the suicide of Sidharthan J S, a second-year Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry student at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode in Wayanad district. It is alleged that Sidharthan committed suicide on February 18, 2024, in the hostel room of his college because of ragging and brutal assault from a group of students in the college.

Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A. observed that this is a serious incident that allegedly took place inside the college campus in front of other students in an inhumane manner. The Court stated that officials who willfully or negligently did not take any measures to prevent the torture and death of Sidharthan should face legal consequences. 

“….this is a serious incident which allegedly occurred inside a college campus in front of a large number of students and the deceased was allegedly subjected to inhumane torture for days together, which ultimately led to his suicide. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that, all the persons responsible for such incident and the officials who, either willfully or negligently, did not take any steps to prevent such torture, before it escalated into the death of a person, shall also be proceeded against. Therefore, I do not find it proper to interfere with the process of inquiry now in progress.”

The Petitioners contended that there were no enabling provisions in the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Act, 2010 for the suspension of the Vice Chancellor. The Court relied upon Apex Court decisions Balvantray Ratilal Patel v. State of Maharashtra (1968), State of Orissa v. Bimal Kumar Mohant (1994), Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs and Others. v. Tarak Nath Ghosh (1971), R.P.Kapur v. Union of India (1964) stated that lack of an express and specific provision would not disentitle the appointing authority from issuing a suspension order.

The Court further held that the fairness and transparency of the inquiry would be affected if the Vice Chancellor was not kept away from the University during inquiry since there were allegations against him. It held that if the Vice-Chancellor was not kept from power during the inquiry, then the staff and students would hesitate to speak the truth.

Referring to Section 12 (8) (i) of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Act, 2010 , the Court held that the Chancellor has wider powers to remove the Vice-Chancellor from the office by an order in writing on charges of misappropriation, misconduct, mismanagement of funds, or willful omission, refusal to carry out the provisions of the Act or for abuse of powers vested upon him.

The Court further stated that the college's location within the University campus where the Vice-Chancellor's office was situated cannot be overlooked. The Court further stated that the arguments of the Vice-Chancellor that he had no knowledge of the torture meted out to Sidharthan was not believable.

The Court further observed that as per evidence, Sidharthan was tortured from February 16 which continued till February 18. The Court noted that there were also allegations that Sidharthan was tortured openly in front of the other students in the hostel. The Court further observed that it was not possible that the Vice-Chancellor  was unaware of the incidents that took place in the college and hostel until February 21 especially since there were visible injuries on Sidharthan's body found hanging on February 18.

“In such circumstances, the contention of the petitioner regarding the lack of knowledge of the torture of the deceased, until 21.02.2024, appears to be not convincing, at least prima facie. This probably suggests maladministration or dereliction of duty of the persons concerned including the petitioner (Vice-Chancellor). Therefore, this is a matter to be inquired into by conducting a fair and impartial inquiry”, added the Court.

Accordingly, the writ petition was dismissed by the Court.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the death of Sidharthan has been taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Counsel for Petitioner: Advocates S.P.Aravindakshan Pillay, N.Santha, V.Varghese, Peter Jose Christo S.A.Anand, K.R.Remya, L.Annapoorna, Vishnu V.K.

Counsel for Respondents: Special Government Pleader T B Hood, Standing Counsel Manu Govind, Senior Counsels P Sreekumar, George Poonthottam

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw Ker 265

Case title: Dr. M. R. Saseendranath V State of Kerala

Case number: WP(C) 9022/ 2024

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