Latest news with #Matthai
Perth Now
14-07-2025
- Science
- Perth Now
Prof who sent student boxers pic reinstated
A professor who was fired after he sent 'highly inappropriate' messages to a student at a top Australian university has been given his position back by the Fair Work Commission. University of Melbourne engineering professor Stephan Matthai was dismissed in December 2024 for a series of incidents in 2017 and 2018 in which he sent 'numerous intimate texts and emails' to a PhD student that he was supervising. The student went on to tell Dr Matthai that she loved him, which he did not reciprocate, however, the intimate messaging continued. The student later told another professor that she no longer wanted Dr Matthai as her supervisor and was reassigned without making a formal complaint. In January 2024, she contacted the university and alleged that Dr Matthai had sexually harassed her. The University of Melbourne has been instructed to rehire a professor sacked after he exchanged 'highly inappropriate' messages with his PhD student. NewsWire / Diego Fedele Credit: News Corp Australia The university investigated the matter and found there was no basis for the sexual harassment allegation, but Dr Matthai's messages were 'highly inappropriate'. In one interaction, Dr Matthai and the student discussed body types, and he sent a photo of himself in boxers – at the time he said it was to demonstrate that he was an ectomorph or skinny person. The student responded by asking: 'Can I love you German professor?' Dr Matthai replied: 'You do not need my permission, do you?' He told the university's external investigator that he sent the picture as he was feeling 'unworthy and abandoned' and needed some 'positive feedback'. The University of Melbourne considered the behaviour to be serious misconduct and dismissed the professor. Dr Matthai sent a picture of himself in boxers to his student. Credit: Supplied While the Fair Work decision found that it was 'clear' that Dr Matthai's messages were inappropriate, it considered whether they were a valid reason for dismissal years after the offending. 'Nevertheless, I consider that it was harsh to dismiss Dr Matthai for misconduct that had occurred so long ago, in circumstances where he had maintained an unblemished record over the following seven years of his employment,' Deputy President Alan Colman found. 'In my view, the dismissal was unfair, and the appropriate remedy is for Dr Matthai to be reinstated.' The commission found that while Dr Matthai was not pursuing a romantic relationship with the student, he was going through a 'difficult' break-up with his then partner and wanted his 'close relationship' with the student to continue. 'Not everyone is willing to listen to the sorrows of the broken-hearted,' Mr Colman wrote in his decision. Dr Matthai will also be repaid more than $28,000 in lost income. NewsWire / Daniel Pockett Credit: News Corp Australia The university was instructed to reinstate Dr Matthai to his position immediately and pay him more than $28,000 for lost income during his period of dismissal. The Fair Work Commission orders, handed down on Monday, July 7, made clear the reinstatement must happen within 14 days. In a statement, the University of Melbourne said it was considering an appeal of the ruling, with a spokesperson saying the university was 'disappointed' in the decision. 'The university is considering its options to appeal the decision and will not comment further on this matter at this time,' they said.
Sydney Morning Herald
11-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Melbourne Uni professor sacked over ‘mawkish' romantic messages wins his job back
In 'mawkish' text messages and emails sent between the two in 2017, Matthai discussed intimate details about his personal life. He moved communications from his professional email address to his private email to avoid being seen by 'UoM internet security people'. 'It is our very own private conversation ... and yes, we have the pleasure of getting a glimpse of this together and it is really beautiful reawakening. We share this on a deep intuitive level,' he wrote to the woman. He described their communication as an 'expedition into uncharted territory', saying it was exciting 'more than gambling is', and that a FaceTime with her was a 'moment of bliss'. Matthai sent her a photo of himself in his boxer shorts, saying it was to demonstrate he had an ectomorph body type, to which she responded: 'Can I love you German professor?' He replied: 'You do not need my permission, do you?' He later revealed to an external investigator he'd sent the photo because he had been feeling 'unworthy and abandoned' and needed some 'positive feedback'. Matthai added that the student had sought to strip during a FaceTime conversation, but he stopped her. Matthai wrote to the student, saying they'd both been missing so much in their lives. 'We are like the dry soil soaking up the autumn rain after a long hot summer. It is very beautiful and caresses our souls, but it should not give you pain. You know that I am barely coping with the separation from [omitted],' he said. 'We are like the dry soil soaking up the autumn rain after a long hot summer. It is very beautiful and caresses our souls, but it should not give you pain. You know that I am barely coping with the separation from [omitted],' he said. Colman said Matthai should have ensured all his interactions with the student remained work-related, 'scrupulously avoiding any word or gesture that could have been suggestive of intimacy'. Loading 'Matthai put his own emotional needs before those of [the student]. And he continued to use mawkish, romantic language and to discuss intimate topics. This was highly inappropriate.' Matthai argued that during this time, he was struggling with a difficult break-up, which impacted his judgment. He said he tried to manage the student's expectations after realising she had developed feelings for him. Colman said he did so 'ineptly', especially to a student with English as a second language. On July 3, 2017, Matthai was called into a meeting with the department head, who said the student had made a complaint about him and asked to change her supervisor. Matthai said he was not provided details of the complaint, but agreed to the swap. In 2018, the student told the university's HR department that Matthai did not have appropriate boundaries and that some of his comments made her feel uncomfortable, but she did not want to make a formal complaint as she was worried it could jeopardise her PhD. Years later, in January 2024, the student made a formal complaint about Matthai to HR. Among other things, she alleged Matthai had 'sexually and mentally abused her' for 14 months. The university hired an external investigator, who analysed 141 texts and emails, which included declarations of love by the student for Matthai. Sexual harassment was not part of the investigation, and Matthai denied any abuse. The investigator found Matthai breached the university's workplace behaviour policy by communicating in an intimate, unprofessional, personal and inappropriate way. Matthai told the university he had not been romantically interested in the student but did not want to hurt her feelings. Any suggestion he was pursuing a relationship with her was 'simply wrong', he said. He also argued that communication with the student was out of work hours, but Colman said that didn't matter. 'He agreed that he had acted unprofessionally and said his judgment had been adversely affected by his emotional state at the time,' Colman said. Loading In December 2024, Matthai lost his job without notice. The university's external investigator said his termination was constituted by the 'severity of the conduct, the significant power imbalance' and the fact that Matthai had 'engaged in wilful and deliberate contraventions of the AWB policy, which he had explicitly acknowledged'. But in a decision by the Fair Work Commission this month, Colman said Matthai should get his job back. Colman said Matthai's behaviour in 2017 would have been a valid reason for dismissal due to breach of his contract; however, the complaint was not made until 2024, and Matthai had been the one to provide the investigation with the messages between him and the student. Colman said Matthai was effectively given seven years to prove to the university that his misconduct was isolated. He also said he was confident the behaviour would not reoccur.
Hans India
15-06-2025
- Automotive
- Hans India
Philippos Matthai tops INAC round 2 with four wins
New Delhi's Philippos Matthai brought into play all his vast experience and undoubted driving skills to win outright in four categories in the Vamcy Merla Chennai Gravel Fest which doubled up as the second round of FMSCI Indian National Autocross Championship (INAC) 2025 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday. Matthai, driving his INRC 2 Polo car, blitzed quality fields in the premier INAC 1 and INAC 2 categories in both of which he won the Open and 2000 classes to stamp his authority on the event as he also put in the fastest time of one minute, 38.880 seconds over the 1.8 kms track which was a mix of dirt, gravel and tarmac. The Delhi ace was in a league of his own as he held off his arch-rivals which included top guns Syed Salman (Mysuru), Arnav Pratap Singh (Gurugram), former National Rally champion Chetan Shivram (Bengaluru) and Vaibhav Marathe (Ponda) all of whom finished on podium in the four classes. Reflecting on his performance, Matthai said: 'I am very happy to have won in four classes. We achieved what we had set out to do. The track was a bit tricky in the early part with water puddles in some of the corners after overnight rains. However, the track dried up and became a bit rough in the latter half of the day. I didn't participate in the first round in Chikmagaluru last month. So, it was a good result here. I now look forward to the next round in Coimbatore.' Meanwhile, Syed Salman also enjoyed a fruitful outing as he topped the INAC 2 up to 1650cc and up to 1450cc classes for a fine double. Davangere's Shivani Pruthvi won in the Ladies class ahead of Chennai's Nivetha Jessica and Anusha NS from Bengaluru while Gowtham CP (Chikkamagaluru) topped the INAC 3 Open category. Hyderabad's Sundeep K, who finished eighth in the INAC 1 Unrestricted Open category, was adjudged 'Best Novice' driver.
Indian Express
14-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
A new biography of John Matthai discusses his policy contributions in the early years of independent India
John Matthai played a significant role in shaping government economic policies at the dawn of Independence but it has taken more than 60 years since his death for a definitive biography on the respected Syrian Christian economist, academician and technocrat. Matthai would have been pleased at the choice of his biographer, Bakhtiar Dadabhoy, who brings a thoughtful, research-oriented and measured approach, reflective of his subject. Matthai was a man for all seasons: India's first railways minister, the second finance minister, first chairperson of the State Bank of India, chairperson of the Taxation Inquiry Commission, vice chancellor of Bombay University and Kerala University, and a member of the Tariff Board pre-Independence, besides other significant positions. Matthai is probably best remembered today as the main author of the Bombay Plan of 1944, an action plan for economic development in independent India, underwritten by a few industrialists. He worked on it at the behest of JRD Tata, as Matthai had had a long and successful stint with the Tata group. He fitted in comfortably at the business house controlled almost exclusively in those days by the clannish Parsis. He even became the first non-Parsi chairperson of the powerful Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and was Tata chairperson JRD Tata's blue-eyed boy. His colleague, the witty Sir Homi Modi, joked about Matthai's characteristic solemnity — that even when he said, 'Good morning'' it sounded like a papal benediction. Matthai's years at Tata were his happiest, his several stints in government less serendipitous. The prickly, principled Matthai did not last very long in any post because of his intransigence and independence. His most famous fall-out was with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru over the Planning Commission. Nehru, impressed by Matthai's wealth of experience in business, administration and academics, invited him to join the first cabinet as a representative of the Christian community. Matthai became railway minister. It was the worst possible time, World War II having weakened the economy and Partition having wreaked havoc. Matthai was given the thankless job of partitioning the railways between the two new countries in less than eight weeks. The railway minister was often at loggerheads with home minister Sardar Patel, who wanted to run more trains, while Matthai felt that the overriding priority for evacuation trains was for the Army and police to protect the trains carrying fleeing migrants. When India's first finance minister Shanmukham Chetty, Patel's choice, resigned, Matthai was appointed in his place. It was not a propitious start. Matthai's first budget was generally panned as being pro-rich and inequitable, with high postal hikes and levy on coarse cloth. He was also caught off-guard by the devaluation of the pound, taking at face value the British government's official assurance that the pound, to which the rupee was pegged, would not be demonetised. But it was Matthai's differences with Nehru which brought matters to a head. Nehru, inspired by Fabian Socialism and the Russian example, wanted direct control over the planning process. Though a student of the Fabian socialist Sydney Webb, Matthai, who had first-hand experience in the business world, was more concerned about conserving the economy, especially in view of the stringency of resources, rather than redesigning it. He apprehended that the Planning Commission would emerge as a parallel Cabinet with its deputy chairman exercising more power than the finance minister. While submitting his resignation, Matthai was stiff and unbending. Nehru felt hurt by what he considered Matthai's discourteous behaviour when he was trying to placate him. In hindsight Matthai's apprehensions proved to be well-founded and there were repeated economic crises in the country over the next decades. Erosion of control was an issue which exercised Matthai greatly. Years later when he was appointed vice chancellor of Bombay University, he objected to governors of states being ex-officio chancellors of universities. He was rather aggressive with the gentlemanly governor of Bombay state, Sri Prakasa, who had newly arrived. The principle he was fighting for to protect academic freedom from political interference was very valid. Historians and economists will gather much insight from Dadabhoy's accounts of Matthai's finance and railway budgets and the report of the Taxation Inquiry Commission, but the subjects could be heavy going for an average reader. The Matthai family is full of achievers. His son Ravi was the first director of the IIM Ahmedabad, his nephew Verghese Kurien became the father of the milk revolution, having landed up in Anand quite by coincidence. One would have preferred more insight into the personal life of Honest John, a nickname given incidentally by Nehru. Unfortunately, Matthai seems to have destroyed most of his private and official papers. The author is contributing editor, The Indian Express
Mint
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
How John Matthai became a leading light of economic policy in independent India
The biographer is a bit like the cat burglar, stealthily climbing up the scaffolding of a person's life, breaking in, surveying the assortment of riches and then leaving with only a few select, precious elements. This sounds easier on paper than in practice. The biographer starts his or her undertaking with an inherent handicap, given the limited access to a subject's life (especially if the subject is long deceased), and is forced to temper vaulting ambition with discretion. It is in the choice of things the author focuses on—the life lived and the circumstances surrounding that life—that determines what makes for a good biography. What finally makes a biography truly stand out is the craft of storytelling, transforming the tedium of chronology into a compelling narrative. Bakhtiar K. Dadabhoy's biography of John Matthai, Honest John, is an object study of how an author has to perform an intricate balancing act between the different elements of a subject's life: unspooling the various milestones, his professional progression, the contexts (economic, social and political) defining his professional choices and, finally, how the interplay between the subject's personal events, or emotional growth, determine some life choices or professional achievements. John Matthai is, admittedly, an interesting choice—independent India's first railways minister and its second finance minister—though charting his life holds myriad challenges and Dadabhoy's courageous enterprise manages to score on some counts but comes up empty on many others. Also reads: My mother, the family's memory-keeper Matthai's life became manifestly fascinating by first moving from the private sector to the government, and then becoming a core member of the policy circle that watched over the transition of India from a colony to an independent republic. Matthai had till then shifted from academia to policymaking before settling down at the Tata Group. As a professor of economics at Madras Presidency College, he was nominated to the Madras legislative council in November 1922, affording him first-hand experience in bridging the distance between theory and practice. This brought him to the notice of the Tata Group which pursued him and convinced him to join. Matthai's work on the Bombay Plan—drafted under the imprimatur of J.R.D. Tata and G.D. Birla, among others—had caught the attention of both Congress party leaders as well as the colonial administration. Matthai's graduation into national-level policymaking happened when he was invited to join the interim government in August 1946. It is here that Matthai bumped up against national politics, preparing him for long debates, contentious arguments and partisan broadsides against his policy choices. Initially approached for the finance portfolio, the political exigency of having to accommodate Muslim League's Liaquat Ali Khan forced Matthai to console himself with the industries and supply portfolio. From here to railway minister during independence, which literally had to transport the horrors of Partition across borders, and finance minister thereafter, Dadabhoy's biography is like a luxury train, affording readers a fleeting view of modern India's economic history as it passes by. Dadabhoy diligently excavates official memoranda, policy briefs, letters, Parliament records and debates to provide a glimpse of how a newly-formed republic, recovering from decades of surplus extraction while grappling with widespread poverty and the after-effects of a devastating communal carnage, was trying to craft a sustainable and equitable policy architecture. Statements from leaders with contesting views provide an interesting dynamic, showcasing some of the moral and ethical dilemmas in constructing a democratic, empathetic and secular republic from scratch. Matthai's biography as a vehicle provides an excellent vantage view. But herein lies the nub. There is a lot going on outside that is covered meticulously and, yet, the tumult and turmoil occurring inside the vehicle goes completely undocumented. This is a large, noticeable gap; Dadabhoy has fastidiously mounted flesh and bones to a skeletal framework but forgotten to add a soul to the end-product. It is this conspicuous omission that robs the biography of meaning. Writing about the art of writing biographies, specifically Lytton Strachey's biography of Queen Victoria, author Virginia Woolf had commented: 'Could not biography produce something of the intensity of poetry, something of the excitement of drama, and yet keep the peculiar virtue that belongs to fact—its suggestive reality, its own proper creativeness?" This 'suggestive reality" is perhaps the secret sauce that could have helped Honest John become a compelling narrative, instead of just an interesting read. For example, close to 100 pages are dedicated to tracing the debates, question-and-answers, budgetary allocations after Matthai joins the interim government and later assumes office as railways minister. It is an informative interlude, providing readers a view of India's modern economic history in the making. But, then, readers come away not any wiser about the dramatis personae, specifically John Matthai, scripting this important chapter in India's history. In the preface to American Prometheus, a biography of scientist Robert Oppenheimer, authors Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin confess that, 'It is a deeply personal biography researched and written in the belief that a person's public behaviour and his policy decisions (and in Oppenheimer's case perhaps even his science) are guided by the private experiences of a lifetime." There are multiple instances in Honest John which cry out for some understanding of Matthai's 'private experiences". The first, and most obvious, missing link in the book is the influence of Achamma Matthai. Apart from a perfunctory mention in the book as John Matthai's wife, Achamma deserved some more exposure. She was one of the early female graduates in India, having graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from St John's Diocesan College, Kolkata, in 1920. The relationship between Achamma and John needed to be explored in more granular detail and not the boilerplate statement, 'It proved to be a happy marriage". Achamma's influence on John Matthai's career trajectory, his professional choices and his moral journey looms over the book like some nebulous spirit, palpable yet undefined. This becomes evident in March 1944, when both John and Achamma are distraught after their daughter Valsa dies under mysterious circumstances in the US. This is soon after the Bombay Plan is announced and two years before Matthai resigns from the Tatas to join the interim government. The interim period is intensely important but Dadabhoy provides little for us to understand Matthai's state of mind, how he manages to tackle the demons or how the tragedy shaped his personality thereafter. In the foreword to the book, Matthai's daughter-in-law Syloo (married to Ravi Matthai) describes the man: 'Daddy was seen as being a formidable person, a man with a serious demeanour and an eminence which many thought precluded intimacy or even small liberties. But, at home, he was an entirely different person." In other words, Matthai, like everybody else, was human with the usual flaws and frailties. Dadabhoy provides a brief glimpse of the man's faultlines by recounting the episode where Matthai seeks Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's intervention after Matthai's son reportedly runs over and kills a pedestrian in Allahabad. This is the only instance when readers catch sight of the great man's feet of clay; Dadabhoy's hands may have been forced here by an earlier book which first recounted the incident. But barring this single incident, there is scarce little to sketch out the man's personality. This shortcoming is perhaps born out of necessity. While Parliamentary records and inter-ministerial archives have become much more accessible, we do not know if Dadabhoy had similar luck with John Matthai's personal documents and letters. Also, to be fair to Dadabhoy, many of the people who knew Matthai personally have all passed on, adding another layer of insurmountable constraints. This biography, therefore, apart from being a valuable document for understanding how some of India's policy contours unfolded in the first decade after independence, adds little to the mystique of John Matthai as one of India's leading post-independent policy architects. The author is a senior journalist and author of Slip, Stitch and Stumble: The Untold Story of India's Financial Sector Reforms. He posts @rajrishisinghal 'Honest John: A Life of John Matthai': By Bakhtiar K. Dadabhoy, Penguin Random House India, 396 pages, ₹999 Also reads: India's growth and urban planning: On different planets
