Samson wanted to quit in February, reveals letter

CHENNAI: Two months before she quit as director of Kalakshetra Foundation, dancer Leela Samson had written to the ministry of culture asking to be relieved from the post.
"I had written to the honorable minister on February 28, 2012 requesting her to permit me to step down as my age was an issue in court and may be a cause of embarrassment to the ministry and to Kalakshetra," Samson wrote in her resignation letter to the ministry of culture on April 12."I received no acknowledgement of that letter. In the recent board meeting held on April 10, the ministry's reaction was clear to me."
A copy of the letter addressed to Sangita Gairola, secretary, ministry of culture, was obtained by C S Thomas, a retired teacher at Kalakshetra, under the Right to Information Act. Thomas had filed a writ petition in the Madras high court against Samson continuing as director after the age of 60, the official age for retirement. On stepping down, Samson had said that the governing board of the institution was not happy with her holding the post.
Thomas' counsel R T Shyamala said the first letter could make their case stronger. "This proves that the resignation was completely Samson's decision and was not dictated by the governing board meeting of April 10, as she has claimed," Shyamala said. In her resignation letter, Samson, 61, also apologised to the ministry for not stepping down a year earlier. "People have been lobbying for the ministry to bring her back, when it is clear that Samson wanted to quit even a year earlier," says Shyamala.
Samson was appointed to the post of director in 2005 on a short-term contract. There was no mention of a retirement age or tenure in the contract. The recruitment rules under the Kalakshetra Act are also not specific on the issue. In her resignation letter, Samson wrote that she had pointed this out to the ministry and the board, but "no one took the time to address the situation and ask me to step down".
"I find myself in that very piquant situation - where I was naïve to accept the post of director, Kalakshetra, my alma mater, without insisting on a contract and a specific tenure from the ministry that appointed me," wrote Samson.