World | India
Airline's grounding of pursuer over moustache upheld
A decade-long battle by a flight pursuer with Indian over his right to sport a handlebar moustache at work has ended in defeat.
- IANS
- Published: 00:22 July 8, 2007
Kolkata: A decade-long battle by a flight pursuer with Indian over his right to sport a handlebar moustache at work has ended in defeat.
A Calcutta High Court division bench of Justices Asim Bandhopadhyay and Tapas Giri on Friday directed Victor Joynath De to abide by the rulebook of the airline company.
De's ordeal began in 1998 after Indian, then Indian Airlines, cited its manual code for crew conduct and asked him to shear off his moustache.
He filed a writ petition in Calcutta High Court, pleading that the handlebar moustache was a part of his family custom and he could not afford to shave it off.
De, who joined the carrier in 1968, was grounded on January 15, 1999 and then forced to retire on January 11, 2001 at the age of 55, three years before schedule. In August 2002, Justice Aloke Chakraborty of the high court ruled that De could keep his moustache and fly as a crewmember.
Indian challenged the order before a division bench, leading to a stay on the earlier order. De, however, is not willing to give up. He is planning to move the Supreme Court against the order.
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