Ex-Provost sues UTT

THE FORMER provost and acting president of the University of TT (UTT) has filed a lawsuit against the university for wrongful dismissal.

Dr Fazal Ali, who held the post of provost from May 13, 2012, for three years, under a first contract which was renewed for another three years on May 14, 2015, was fired from the university on September 21, 2017.

Ali, who was subject of a disciplinary tribunal, was told the reason for his dismissal was because there was sufficient evidence that he misconducted himself by mismanaging the academic business of the university and failed to act in its best interest.

He is represented by Senior Counsel Russell Martineau and Fyard Hosein, while attorney Stephen Singh appears for the UTT.

His case came up for a case management hearing before Justice Frank Seepersad yesterday at the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain, and was adjourned to May 27, to give the UTT time to consider Ali’s amended claim.

Ali, the chairman of the Teaching Service Commission, is seeking close to a $1 million in compensation for loss of earning for the eight months he lost on his second contract, as well as other benefits. He earned a monthly salary of $55,000, 20 per cent of that in lieu of a pension, housing and phone allowances and medical plan.

Ali joined the UTT in 2002, where he served in the office of the campus principal to work on special projects. He was then appointed to the office of postgraduate studies and research and was made provost in 2012 and again in 2015, when his contract was renewed.

He said from 2012 to 2015, under his first contract, he served as provost without complaint from the university. Ali also acted as president of the university from June 2012 for a year.

The lawsuit said with the change in government in September 2015, a new board of governors was appointed, and Ali was excluded from its meetings.

He found out about his suspension from the media and the lawsuit said the “wide publicity of his suspension exacerbated his embarrassment and loss of reputation in the academic and national community.” He was put on administrative leave from January-June 2016 pending the outcome of an audit.

He was then told that during the audit, certain matters relating his performance were brought to the attention of the board, involving the recruitment of three people and the failure to renew the contracts of two others.

At the time, his attorneys wrote to the university, detailing responses to the issues raised, and he was then told three disciplinary charges were being laid against him, relating to the failure to renew the contracts of two people and the hiring of one.

A tribunal was set up and hearings took place in June and July 2017, after which, on September 21, he was told there was sufficient evidence that he misconducted himself and failed to act in UTT's best interest.

He sent a pre-action protocol letter to the UTT in January last year, and was told his dismissal was justified and not in breach of contract and that he had an opportunity to avoid jeopardy to the university and act in its best interest.

Ali also contends that it was never his decision not to renew the contracts of the two people (names withheld) because it was not in his purview to advise the board not to follow its own retirement policy for one of them, as she was already over the retirement age of 70 and the board decided not to renew her contract.

On the failure to renew the contract of the other person, he said the position was not an academic one and could not fall under his purview as provost.