The court has directed the college to reinstate its employee Subha Kumar Dash and pay his salary for the three-month suspension period. The court has directed the college to reinstate its employee Subha Kumar Dash and pay his salary for the three-month suspension period.

The long-running dispute between St Stephen’s College administration and its suspended administrative officer was settled on Thursday with the High Court observing that all parties involved in the issue “should have maintained restraint”.

The court of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani also expressed its displeasure at the recent controversies involving the “reputation of the premier institution”, and said a “truce would better serve the college.”

The court has directed the college to reinstate its employee Subha Kumar Dash and pay his salary for the three-month suspension period after Dash agreed to apologise to the principal and the chairman. He also agreed to withdraw all court proceedings and complaints initiated against them.

The governing body of the college had, in its resolution, decided to cut Dash’s salary and pay only subsistence allowance for the January-April period as he was suspended for raising allegations against Principal Rev Valson Thampu, governing body member Deepak Mukherji and the officials of the Church of North India.

Dash has also been directed to file applications to withdraw all proceedings by Monday, following which he will be reinstated as administrative officer at the college.

The court also asked the lawyers for the parties to “maintain discretion” after the counsel for Dash mentioned that he had been affected by the issue as he was also an ex-student of the college. “The colour of your hat is of a lawyer and not of an ex-student. Lawyers should be fierce and fast in argument but should never get identified with the bitterness in the case,” the court said.

The court further cautioned the lawyers that “the episode should be treated as closed for all purposes”. The court said if the issue was not resolved after the court had spent so much time counselling all parties, “it would be a classic case of the elephant passing by but the tail getting stuck”.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Delhi News, download Indian Express App.