The case of the moustache man

Indian’s flight purser Victor Joynath De is no more in service but his right to sport a handlebar moustache at work is still under the high court scanner. The hearing of the airline’s appeal against a trial bench ruling in favour of De will end on Monday.
The purser was first grounded and then forced to retire at age 58 on January 11, 2001 — two years before his scheduled retirement — after he refused to trim his moustache. The man from Salt Lake moved court against the “injustice”.
In August 2002, the trial bench ruled that De could keep his moustache and flying gear. Justice Aloke Chakraborty had directed Indian to “reinstate him” immediately. The trial judge, however, did not say whether De must resume service as a purser. The airline moved an appeal against the order before the high court division bench.
De’s troubles with Indian began with a circular on July 10, 1998, that stated: “Hair should be neat and tidy and flight personnel should be clean-shaven (except Sikhs), with neatly trimmed moustaches not beyond the upper lip.” This was an extension of an earlier notification that simply said: “Moustache, if worn, will be neatly trimmed.”
De, who sports a “big moustache”, refused to accept the snip circular.
The trial bench had observed that the rule framed by the airline with regard to “moustache and long hair” had not been included in its original operations manual.
The Indian lawyers submitted before the division bench that the trial court judgment was improper, as every airline has a dress code of its own.
25/06/07 The Telegraph

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Categories: Indian Jun 2007