In Brief
A bank employee with 34 years of unblemished service was suspended ten months before his scheduled retirement (30 June 2019) on allegations of improper credit sanctioning. The bank later served a charge sheet just twelve days before the employee's retirement date, despite having assured the court that it would wait for advice from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) before issuing the charge sheet. The Supreme Court held that since the bank had itself acknowledged the need for CVC's first-stage advice under Regulation 19 of the 1976 Regulations, it was obligatory to obtain and consider that advice before issuing the charge sheet. The Court found the bank's actions mala fide and arbitrary, occurring at the fag end of the employee's career. It quashed the disciplinary proceedings and granted the employee all retiral benefits as of his superannuation date, though no back wages."
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