DHANARAJU V B Vs. CAUVERY GRAMEENA BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER, an employee of the first respondent-Cauvery Grameena Bank ('bank' for short), a body constituted under Regional rural Banks Act, 1976, is before this Court, inter alia questioning the legality or otherwise of the orders dated July 30, 1993 passed by the board of Directors of the Bank in confirming the orders dated March 26, 1993 made by the disciplinary authority of the Bank, in imposing a penalty of dismissal from the services of the bank.

(2.) THE facts in extenso require to be noticed. They are as follows: the petitioner joined the services of the first respondent-Bank as a Probationary Officer on July 11, 1977 and his services were confirmed in that post with effect from January 11, 1979.

(3.) AT this stage, I should refer to the service profile of one Sri K. Vijayappa, who was appointed as an enquiry officer by the disciplinary authority to inquire into the allegations made against the petitioner. Petitioner and Sri K. Vijayappa, joined the services of the Bank on the same day as officers in the Bank. Both of them are of the same rank and same grade and the scale of pay fixed by the Bank is also the same. The Bank has prepared and published the seniority list of officers working in the Bank by following the guidelines fixed by Government of India and norms fixed by NABARD by its Circular No. 7 (Personnel Department) for the information of branches of the Bank and the officers working therein. As could be seen from the final gradation list, the petitioner and Sri K. Vijayappa, are borne on the same scale of pay and the same grade. The seniority list also provides, the date of entry of the officers in the services of the respondent-Bank. In that column, it is shown that petitioner and Sri K. Vijayappa had joined the services of the Bank on the same day. However, in view of the ranking obtained in the recruitment test, Sri K vijayappa is assigned higher ranking than that of the petitioner in the seniority list.