Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered Visva-Bharati authorities to immediately reinstate a temporary employee who had been sacked in March last year.

Sources said Chandranath Banerjee, who had joined the varsity’s Centre for Journalism and Mass Communication in 2000 as press liaison-cum-placement coordinator, was terminated from his services with a notice in March last year, apparently for contributing to a news related to the varsity that had appeared in the media.

He was fired without any notice and before the varsity did not listen to him, showing him as a “purely temporary” employee.

After Banerjee had moved the high court, the varsity formed a two-member committee on the directions of the court in August last year. The panel came up with a report stating his service was not required during the pandemic because there were no physical classes.

“The University and Centre for Journalism and Mass Communication are directed to put the petitioner (Banerjee) in the position the petitioner was as of 16th March 2021 and allow the petitioner to resume his duties without further delay,” the order by Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya reads.

“The letters and the impugned order read in conjunction would amount to arbitrary and unreasonable action on the part of the university...” the order reads.

Many insiders in the varsity said the court order proved how the administration in Visva-Bharati headed by vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty had punished employees without a proper reason.

During Chakrabarty’s tenure, at least 10 employees, both permanent and casual, were fired on various grounds. The varsity’s acting public relation officer Atig Ghosh did not take calls or reply to a text message asking for the view following the order. A senior official said the varsity might move the division bench against the order.