Freedom and Employment
Dr Venugopal director of AIIMS and a renowned doctor has been sacked from the post by Dr Ramadoss.
Commenting on this GB said that his dismissal is a suppression of right of speech. [link]
I do not quite agree with his view.
Government could have been accused of suppression, if Venugopal had criticized as a private citizen, however the relationship between him and government was that of a employee and employer.
To give an analogy suppose a GM in a private concern criticizes his superior in media, if the company terminates him it will be perfectly justified. The reason for this is any employee is bound by the contract of employment and hence his right of free speech is proscribed while at employer's time and on issues concerning employer.
As GB later clarified he makes a distinction between a person employed in private sector and public sector. While there is not very well defined way to draw a line between the role of person as a private citizen and that of a employee, a employee in private sector or public sector is bound by the terms of employment. [link]
This is not to say there can not be other grounds to raise question dismissal of Venugopal.
As per media reports the issue of dismissal was not in agenda of meeting and further there was no voting (the issue decided by voice vote) . If the procedures has not been followed there is a chance that judiciary can give relief to Dr Venugopal. [link]
Therefore while it may be violation of procedures it is not suppression of free speech
6 comments:
Hi Gaurav,
I am copying my answer to your comment on Confused's blog regarding Vande Mataram. I wasn't sure that you'd go back and check the comments thread on an old post.
BTW, are you the same Gaurav (Sabnis) who left a comment on my blog? Or some one else?
Best,
Ruchira
Gaurav:
Of course it is not the same - not in my mind or yours.
The point I was making is that there is little use in looking for literal meaning in a symbol which is perceived as a hostile battle cry by a paranoid community - for better or for worse.
There are many such instances. The swastika has a benign and auspicious connotation for Hindus. But it will be very insensitive to invite Jewish friends to your home and festoon the walls with swastika symbols. (At least I wouldn’t do it.) The southern racists in the US always claim that the Confederate flag denotes southern heritage and culture and there is nothing inherently offensive in the flag’s design. But it sends chills down the backs of African Americans and no amount of explanation can bring them around to seeing “southern pride” in that symbol.
Please understand hyperbole when you see it. Your own reading of my comment illustrates how pre-existing favorable or negative perceptions can muddy up issues. Since you are sensitive about Vande Mataram, you were quick to conclude that I was drawing a sinister equivalence with Heil Hitler. I was in fact illustrating to Kumar that just the dictionary meaning of words do not convey the entire significance of an expression or a song lyric. Historical associations go deeper than that.
Ruchira,
No I am not Gaurav Sabnis,
I understood your point and that's what I disagree with.
To say that Muslims have same feeling for Vande Matram as Jews have for swastika or Blacks have for confederate flag is wrong.
I am sorry, but I do not buy this line of how Muslims have a special place because they are minorities.
This reeks of minorytism and I am against it (Truth be told I loathe this kind of obfuscation)
Regards
Good point there. Service rules have to be followed though the question remains how has Dr. Venugopal violated those rules?
Let someone answer this. On purely technical grounds, Dr. Venugopal is pretty much in clear, as far as I can see.
Confused,
I agree, as per the media reports the dismissal seems highly improper.
I also posted the same comment on GB's post
Regards
Keep up the good work » » »
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