Non-Resident Indian academic Suresh Deman seems to have made it a full-fledged profession to sue universities and cash in on Britain's rights culture as he pocketed a whopping 2 lakh pounds in payouts and cost the taxpayer an estimated 1 million pounds.
Deman, who describes himself as Indian-American, has sued universities for a decade - usually claiming racial bias over failed job applications - as he collected nearly 2 lakh pounds in payouts and cost the taxpayer an estimated 1 million pounds. The finance lecturer brought at least 40 cases to employment tribunals before the Attorney General last year had him declared a 'vexatious litigant' and banned him from bringing further claims.
Deman, however, had other ideas and this week sees him back before a tribunal, once again claiming discrimination. It turns out that the ban on him bringing further cases does not apply to Northern Ireland because the province has a separate judicial body.
As a result, 53-year-old Deman is pursuing a claim dating back 11 years against the Association of University Teachers and Officers. The case is being heard, at public expense, at a fair employment tribunal in Belfast. It has already lasted nine days and is far from finished.
With Deman representing himself, proceedings have been delayed by a succession of objections, legal applications and complaints from the claimant. In his latest case, the serial litigant is claiming to have been a victim of race, religious, sexual and political discrimination. His case goes back to 1994-95 when Deman was a temporary member of the Queen's University teaching staff.
UK-NRI 2 Academic Deman claims he was the victim of discrimination when the Association of University Teachers (AUT) failed to offer him the same legal advice it gave to another member of staff, Beverley Carroll. Carroll, a clerical research assistant, made a claim against Deman for harassment in February 1995 and four months later the university informed him he would not be appointed full time.
Deman, from London, is said to have been abusive to Carroll after blaming her for not notifying him of a staff meeting. In the four years before his ban, Deman clocked up 210 days of tribunals and was regularly accused of time-wasting tactics. So far in this latest Belfast case, he has tried in vain to have a journalist from the Daily Mail removed from the public hearing, requested a switch to another building and accused the panel chairman of being biased against him.
Deman, who is married and from a Hindu background, is a US citizen and describes himself as Indian-American. He was a teaching fellow at Pittsburgh University and got his first taste of litigation when he won 23,000 pounds damages for his dismissal there. Deman's first job in the UK was at Queen's and he received 30,000 pounds in an out-of-court settlement 10 years after leaving.
He is believed to have applied for at least 1,000 academic posts, even though he was often unqualified. If he was not short-listed or interviewed, a racial discrimination claim might follow. He often put in alternative applications under a non-Asian name such as 'Phil White' to compare the results. Five universities or colleges made payouts to settle actions to avoid the expense of fighting cases and four paid damages.
Last year, in banning him from pursuing future tribunals, the judge Justice Underhill, said Deman "has an obsession that he is a victim of racial discrimination which exists without reference to the evidence in any particular case".
