CHENNAI:
In a landmark judgment, the Madras High Court has quashed the termination of a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee from the State Bank of India (SBI), ruling that registered refugees are entitled to constitutional protection against arbitrary State action.
The court set aside a 2013 order by SBI that terminated the services of G. Thirukalyanamalar, who had served the bank for over 17 years under various legal protections and interim orders.
The Case History
Thirukalyanamalar was appointed as an Officer in Marketing and Recovery (Rural) in 2008. Despite her consistent performance, SBI moved to terminate her services in 2013 after discovering she was a Sri Lankan national, citing a recruitment clause that invited applications only from Indian citizens.
Constitutional Protection for Non-Citizens
Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, presiding over the case, rejected the bank’s argument that a non-citizen could not challenge the termination through a writ petition. The court observed:
Article 14 & 21:
The court clarified that while certain rights are reserved for citizens, the right to equality (Article 14) and the right to life/livelihood (Article 21) protect every person on Indian soil, including refugees.
Legal Residency:
Under the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, registered Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are exempted from standard visa requirements, making her stay in India entirely lawful.
Humanitarian Grounds:
The petitioner is married to an Indian citizen and has children who are Indian citizens. The court noted that depriving her of a livelihood after 17 years of service would cause “irreparable hardship.”
Court’s Conclusion
The High Court held that since the recruitment form did not explicitly ask for citizenship disclosure and the petitioner had lived lawfully in India since childhood, the bank’s action was “arbitrary and unreasonable.”
While the termination was quashed, the court clarified that this ruling applies specifically to the unique facts of this case and should not be treated as a general precedent overriding a bank’s right to restrict future employment to Indian citizens.