JUSTICE DENIED:

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14 cases won, 62-year-old worker in TN still jobless

Chennai: Not one or two, this dismissed transport employee from
Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu has won 14 judicial orders in his favour - seven in
the Madras high court, five in the Supreme Court and one each in the
industrial tribunal and a criminal court.

When he started his legal battle, T Neethivilangan, who was dismissed as
junior superintendent in Cholan Roadways Corporation (CRC) in 1983, was 34
years old. Now, he is 62, a good four years past his age of retirement. With
the TN government itself donning the role of a rogue litigant bent on
circumventing all judicial orders, Neethivilangan was denied his rightful
benefits all these years. "It was too much of a torture. Not even my family
members were aware of the stress I was suffering all these years. I had some
ancestral properties and my inlaws too were very helpful," Neethivilangan
told TOI.

The Kumbakonam-based CRC first suspended Neethivilangan on charges that
he failed to inform the misappropriation of over Rs 50 lakh by his
co-employee, Rajagopalan. In 1994, the jurisdictional industrial tribunal
rejected the CRC management's plea to approve his dismissal.

That was the first victory for Neethivilangan, and it also marked the
government's endless efforts to see him out. The CRC approached the high
court, which also refused to reverse the tribunal order. In 1998, the
Supreme Court also refused.

Though the apex court's order usually means the end of litigation,
Neethivilangan was forced to file another petition in the high court in 1999
after the CRC did not take him back. This round of litigation too ended with
the apex court dismissing the CRC's special leave petition.

The authorities invented ways to defeat this second order of the apex
court. He was reinstated in service on July 16, 2001, only to be suspended
the same evening and dismissed later. Neethivilangan embarked on another
round of litigation, this time directly before the apex court, which advised
him to file an execution petition before the subordinate court for
implementing its orders. The execution petition is still being heard by the
Cuddalore Labour Court, which is unable to settle it because the CRC
management has been taking adjournments after adjournments.

Meanwhile, the criminal case, which was cited for his removal, too ended
in his favour, with the court acquitting him of all charges. Another round
of litigation, this time challenging his second removal from service, too
ended with the Madras HC quashing it. Though he should have been reinstated
in three months, the authorities have not complied with the order.