Supreme Court orders return of Ph.D. scholar Ramadas to TISS

A protest outside Tata Institute of Social Sciences against the suspension of Ph.D. scholar Ramadas K.S. on March 26, 2025.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Supreme Court on Friday (May 2, 2025) allowed Dalit Ph.D. scholar and Left student leader Ramadas K.S. to be reinstated in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) while reducing his two-year suspension for alleged misconduct to the period already undergone.

A Bench headed by Justice Dipankar Datta gave relief to Mr. Ramadas, who had challenged his suspension and ban from entering any TISS campus.

A TISS empowered committee on April 17 2024 suspended Ramadas from the institute for two years and debarred his entry across all its campuses.

The Bench noted the submissions of advocate Rajeev Kumar Panday, appearing for TISS, and perused the documents which prompted the committee to suspend the scholar for two years. Mr. Panday argued that the Bombay High Court was correct in not interfering with the suspension.

However, the court took note of the fact that Mr. Ramadas was doing his Ph.D. from the institution and should be allowed to conclude it.

“Today, the Honourable Supreme Court has ordered TISS to reinstate me as a student with immediate effect, hearing my petition against the two-year suspension and debarring entry to any TISS campuses in three different States… On the 366th day of legal proceedings since approaching the High Court, I am officially a student again –from Today – at the very institution that denied me education 380 days ago,” Mr. Ramadas was reported to have posted on social media.

“I am happy. It is a relief for me. My first prayer was to go back to TISS and to study. That has been granted. I have not yet decided when I will rejoin. After the judgment comes in, I will study it and will go back thereafter. The court said, ‘Let him study.’ I respect the SC verdict,” Mr. Ramadas told The Hindu.