Man accused of attacking CM Pinarayi Vijayan gets Kerala High Court relief in misconduct case

The Kerala High Court recently stayed disciplinary proceedings against one Farsin Majeed PP, a school teacher and Youth Congress worker, who was earlier suspended from service for protesting against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan mid-flight [Farsin Majeed PP V State of Kerala & ors].

The interim stay was granted in a petition challenging a show cause notice and enquiry report which, although cleared him of the original charges linked to the incident onboard the flight, found him guilty of an unrelated incident of misconduct.

Justice TR Ravi passed the interim order after issuing notice to the State on the petition.

"Admit. GP takes notice for the respondents 1 to 5. Issue notice by speed post to the 6th respondent. Post after service. Interim stay (granted)," the Court ordered.

According to Majeed's plea, the controversy began on June 13, 2022, when he was on board a Kannur-Thiruvananthapuram flight, where he allegedly attacked the Chief Minister.

A crime was registered that night and he was suspended from service the very next day.

Majeed was reinstated on December 13, 2022 and was directed to rejoin duty. However, a memo of charges was issued to him on July 20, 2022 by the manager of the Mattannur UP School without any statement of allegations as required under Rule 75(i)(a) of the Kerala Education Rules (KER).

Majeed denied the charges and was later issued a minor penalty of censure.

Despite the conclusion of the proceeding, the Deputy Director of Education instructed the manager to proceed with a formal enquiry under Rule 75, where two separate enquiries were held but neither resulted in a report.

A fresh enquiry was then conducted on June 26, 2025 by the Assistant Educational Officer allegedly under instructions from senior officials.

This resulted in an enquiry report dated July 15, 2025, which held that the original charges were not proved but found Majeed guilty of misconduct for leaving headquarters without permission.

Based on this, a show cause notice was issued on July 23, 2025 proposing to withhold one increment.

Majeed stated that this misconduct was never part of the original charges and that such a finding was in violation of Rule 75(8) of KER which required findings only on charges that were actually framed.

He alleged that the education authorities had acted under political pressure, resulting in repeated and irregular enquiries against him.

"The said alleged misconduct is not a charge as per Ext P3.  In Ext P8 enquiry report, the charges levelled against the petitioner vide Ext P3 are found not proved but misconduct is found against the petitioner which is not a charge in Ext P3.  Therefore, Ext P8 is illegal and consequential Ext P9 showcause notice issued by the 6^th respondent is also illegal," it was contended.

He further submitted that the alleged misconduct of leaving headquarters without prior sanction was not even recognised as misconduct under the the Kerala Service Rules (KSR), especially when the casual leave for the day was sanctioned.

Majeed thus sought to quash the enquiry report and the show cause notice, and a declaration that any further enquiry under Rule 75 was illegal in the absence of a proper statement of allegations.

He also requested a direction to release his increments and allowances withheld since June 2022.

The petition was filed through advocates RK Muralidharan, Athira A Menon and Harisankar KV.