Petition to Sibal against dismissal of gay rights academic

TNN, Oct 24, 2010

HYDERABAD: A petition against IIT-Hyderabad's decision of sacking Dr Ashley Tellis, gay rights activist and academic will be submitted to Kapil Sibal, minister, Union Human Resource Development and chairman, IIT-governing council asking him to order for an enquiry into the reasons behind Dr Tellis termination. The petition which is being circulated online (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ashelytellis) has gathered 287 signatures so far of several eminent academics, Tellis' former students and members of the society who are voicing their concern against the termination of Tellis from IIT-Hyderabad.

The petition claims that apart from workplace bullying and possible homophobic prejudice (as was earlier reported in these columns) it is more appalling that he was dismissed after two semesters without any reasons and without any opportunity to defend himself. Ashley Tellis who had taken up a teaching post in IIT-Hyderabad, on September 1, 2009 was sacked on April 30, 2010 before the end of his second term. Currently Ashley is teaching in an institution of higher education in New Delhi.

The petition also says that several administrative procedures were overlooked while issuing relieving orders to him. In a response to the Right to Information (RTI) petition which was filed by Tellis to know the reasons for his termination, IIT administration had responded that he was dismissed because of bad student evaluation. The petition states that a report of the coordinator of students (CoS) which was mentioned as the basis of the termination can be merely doctored as the CoS is a non-instructional post. The petition further states that the head of the liberal arts department was not informed of the decision taken by the director, U B Desai and board of governors to dismiss Dr Tellis. The HoD's opinion was also not solicited to evaluate Dr Tellis' performance. According to the petition, while IIT-Hyderabad claims that Tellis is uncooperative in the functioning of the Institute, ironically the liberal arts department had chosen him two weeks before his termination to be its associate head.

The petition has signatures of renowned academics including that of Gayatri Chakravarthy Spivak, US-based post colonial theorist, Udaya Kumar, professor of English, Delhi University, Ramesh Bairy T S, Assistant Professor of Sociology, IIT, Bombay, Kamayani Bali Mahabal, lawyer and human rights activist, Bodhisattva Kar, Fellow in history, CSSS, Calcutta and Dr. K Satyanarayana, Head, Department of Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad and Dr. Rekha Pappu, senior academic, Anveshi Research Centre for Women's Studies. Some of the signatories have demanded for reinstatement of Ashley Tellis.