Srimanta Raut

A Calcutta University teacher has moved the high court to find out whether he has retired or is still in service and prayed for an order to have his dues cleared.

Justice S.P. Talukdar on Friday asked the university to immediately pay Rs 23.18 lakh to Srimanta Kumar Raut, who was suspended in June 1995 for retaining some answer scripts beyond the deadline.

“I will hear the case in December. But I am directing Calcutta University to pay Rs 23.18 lakh to the teacher immediately,” the judge said.

The order was passed on a petition filed by the zoology teacher, who alleged that though he had crossed the retirement age of 60 years in July 2007 the authorities had not paid him his salary and other statutory dues. He claimed that he was yet to know whether he was still in service.

Raut’s lawyer Debaprasad Roy said his client had applied for an extension of his tenure but there was no word from the university.

“The Form 16 the university has sent him shows he had drawn his salary for the entire 2007-08 financial year,” said Raut’s lawyer Debaprasad Roy.

According to norms, employees are served with retirement letters, which mention the date of retirement, 12 months before the last day in service. “My client was not sent the letter,” said Roy.

After his suspension, Raut refused to accept his salary cheques till he was proved innocent. He alleged that the university had suspended him “illegally and on a flimsy ground”.

The suspension was withdrawn in 1998 but Raut kept refusing his salary demanding that the dues be paid in one instalment. The university wanted to clear the amount in phases.

In May last year, the high court had ordered the university to pay Raut all his dues — around Rs 30 lakh — in one instalment by July 2007.

“The university had sent him a cheque following the order but there was no accompanying letter mentioning why the university was paying the money. So, my client refused to accept the cheque,” Roy said.

A university official said the authorities had wanted to clear all his dues but Raut refused to accept the money.

Raut’s lawyer said the teacher had been under “financial duress” since June 1995. “He used to walk all the way from his Behala home to Ballygunge Science College as he could not afford taking a bus,” said a colleague.