Victor Joynath De

Former flight steward Victor Joynath De has lost his last legal battle against Indian Airlines (now Air India) which had sacked him for sporting a handlebar moustache.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected De’s petition, challenging the airline’s decision which he claimed was based on rules that violated Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution and were discriminatory.

A two-judge bench turned down his plea, saying: “Article 14 does not apply to anything and everything.” Rules, the bench observed, are a “management prerogative” and courts have limited powers of review over administrative decisions.

The resident of Circus Avenue joined the airline in 1968 sporting the now famous moustache. He was grounded in October 1998, when he ignored an airline circular banning moustaches “beyond the upper lip” and was sacked in January 2001, one-and-a-half years before he was to retire.

In response to a submission by De’s lawyer Sanjeev Sen that rules allowed Sikhs to retain their turbans and beards at their workplace, the bench said: “Keeping beards and turbans are an indispensable part of their religion. You can’t compare yourself with a Sikh.”

The bench also dismissed De’s plea that it was a family custom to keep handlebar moustaches. “You can’t join an organisation and say you will not abide by its rules. Otherwise you join some other organisation…. If it’s a family custom, you keep it in the family.”

The court also expressed its annoyance at having to deal with such arguments. “You tell us if you were violating the rules or not. You can’t argue that someone else was being permitted to keep it (the moustache).”

The apex court, however, directed the airline to ignore any service discontinuity of De and clear his normal post-retirement benefits within three months. But De will not get any salary or emolument arrears from October 1998 to January 2001.

De, who refused to comment when Metro called him on Tuesday evening, had moved a single-judge bench of the high court in 2002 and got an order asking the airline to reinstate him and allow him to keep his moustache.

The airline moved a division bench which turned down the earlier order. The former steward then filed an appeal in the apex court.