Gender justice : High court sets aside the illegal dismissal of female PIO by Indo-German project, orders reinstatement with arrear salary

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, November 12, 2026

In a landmark order on gender justice the division bench of the high court of Tripura comprising chief justice M.S. Ramchandra Rao and justice Sabyasachi Datta Purkayastha yesterday set aside the completely illegal, arbitrary and inimical-to-natural-justice dismissal from service of the former project implementing officer (PIO) Dr Reema Saha of the ongoing Indo-German Project and ordered her reinstatement in service without delay. The high court bench also ordered immediate payment of her arrear salary since September 2025 when she had been retrenched without issuing even a show-cause notice. Apart from the order on reinstatement and compensatory payment of arrear salary and other related benefits , the high court bench imposed a cost of Rs 15 thousand on the CEO of the Indo-German project S.Prabhu towards the expenses incurred by Dr Reema Saha in filing or fighting the case.

According to the senior advocate Purushottam Roybarman who represented Dr Reema Saha in the high court hearing , the bench of chief justice M.S.Ramchandra Rao and justice Sabyasachi Datta Purkayastha had taken a serious view of the fact that Dr Reema Saha had been retrenched arbitrarily without even a show-cause notice despite having an acclaimed service career on record. The bench also dismissed the respondent’s plea that Dr Reema Saha had merely been on contractual service, implying she could be got rid of any time. Apart from this, the esteemed bench also took serious exception to a negative entry made in Dr Reema Saha’s service book by an officer junior to her in rank and that too with ‘back-date’ , observing at the same time that a contractual officer can never be replaced by another contractual officer . At the same time the high court bench also annulled the recruitment notice issued by the Society for Entrepreneurship Development (SOFED). The order passed by the high court bench also noted that at the time of dismissal from service Dr Reena Saha had been in service with high responsibility at the government run Gomati Wildlife Sanctuary, observing that since Dr Reema Saha was the only female holding a top post she had been removed at the whim and caprice of the CEO and project director of Indo-German Project.

Responding to the judgment senior advocate Purushottam Roybarman hailed it as an ‘exemplary judgment in the interest of gender justice’. He asserted that the judgment will lead to the strengthening of the concept of gender justice and its implementation. In the landmark case advocate Purushottam Roybarman was assisted by his competent junior advocate Kaushik Nath.

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