Court asks TCS to reinstate sacked employee after 7 yrs

Chennai: Thiruvamalai Selvan, an IT professional who was terminated by the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in 2015 after eight years of service, has finally got justice after a Chennai labour court ruled in his favour.

The court has directed TCS to reinstate Selvan and pay him his salary and benefits of seven years in full. Selvan sustained himself for the past seven years doing odd jobs, including software consultancy as well as real-estate brokerage.

Selvan, who had joined TCS as an assistant engineer, was sacked from service in 2015 as part of an alleged mass retrenchment.

Selvan had approached the court seeking continuity of service but the TCS representative (legal) had informed the court that the petitioner didn't fall under the category of 'workman'.

The legal representative of the company also said that he was in a managerial capacity and that he was discharged from service due to poor performance.

The Forum for IT Employees (FITE), an organisation working for the welfare and rights of the employees, supported him in his legal ordeals. Selvam told mediapersons that he had to visit the court more than 100 times.

The FITE is run by a collective of IT professionals from different IT companies in the country, including Wipro, TCS, Infosys, Accenture, HCL and other major players in this field.

FITE said in a tweet, "Justice anywhere is hope and a reminder to all those who are forcing employees to resign. Great work done by FITE Chennai and salute to the TCS employee who fought for justice."