The Supreme Court of India on Friday directed the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to reinstate Dalit PhD scholar and left student leader Ramadas K.S. as a student with immediate effect, while hearing his petition challenging the two-year suspension and ban on entry to any TISS campus.
“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,” reads Facebook post by
Ramadas.
He went on to say: “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.”
“As we learn from people’s movements, the denial of education to any student was never about affecting just one individual- it was about the fundamental rights of countless students and the question of campus democracy in our higher education system. Though this period has been a tough fight, taking away a significant amount of time from my education and daily life, I am glad that I could also be a small part of the resistance. My solidarity to the students of AUD, Jamia, Jadavpur and other universities. The study and struggle for education and employment for all will continue without fail. Thanks, and salutes to everyone for standing with us and extending solidarity. Love and hugs to my comrades in SFI and PSF,” he added.
Ramadas, a member of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF)-TISS, started the legal fight in May 2024, seeking the revocation of his suspension, arguing that the university had imposed it without considering his explanations. The institution, however, justified the suspension based on an Empowered Committee’s findings, which examined his conduct, including participation in protests.
Ramadas, a Dalit student from Kerala’s Wayanad, is a research scholar in Development Studies at the TISS Mumbai campus. The administration also debarred his entry across all TISS campuses.
Ramadas is a former general secretary of PSF, a left students’ collective at TISS Mumbai, which has been vehemently opposing the institute’s administration’s policies. Ramadas, who is an active student leader in TISS Mumbai, is now a member of the Central Executive Committee of SFI and Joint Secretary of SFI Maharashtra.
 to reinstate Dalit PhD scholar and left student leader Ramadas K.S. as a student with immediate effect, while hearing his petition challenging the two-year suspension and ban on entry to any TISS campus.){kind=link}