Pay Rs5L to Shoma Sen: HC tells NU

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court has directed Nagpur University to pay Rs5 lakh to its former professor Shoma Sen towards retirement and pensionary benefits that included provident fund and gratuity.
A professor with NU’s postgraduate English department, Sen, who was supposed to retire in July 31, 2018, was suspended by NU administration after her arrest. Subsequently, her retirement benefits were kept on hold. Sen had challenged the NU action.
Sen is currently behind bars in Pune for her alleged links with Maoists, playing active role in flaring up Koregaon-Bhima violence and indulging in Elgar Parishad activities in 2017.
The case was listed before a division bench comprising Justice Ravi Deshpande and Justice Nitin Suryawanshi through counsel Prakash Meghe. While granting her interim relief, the judges asked NU to release her dues within a week. They noted that NU failed to come up with satisfactory explanation for withholding Sen’s retirement benefits.
“In the meantime, we direct NU to pay Rs5 lakh to the petitioner within a week, without prejudice to rights and contention of the parties. This shall be subject to further adjustment upon final adjudication,” said the judges.