B. NARAYANA RAO Vs. SYNDICATE BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AGGRIEVED by the order dated 31.12.2012 passed by the Chief Manager, Syndicate Bank, whereby the Chief Manager has reduced two -third of the pension payable to the petitioner, the petitioner has approached this Court.

(2.) BRIEFLY the facts of the case are that on 22.5.1972 the petitioner was appointed as a Clerk in the Syndicate Bank. From 1972 -2006, considering his excellent service to the bank, he was given promotions one after the other, culminating in the post of Senior Manager in Grade Scale -V in the year 2006. However, on 20.3.2009, he was suspended due to certain alleged misconducts committed by him. The petitioner filed an Appeal against the suspension order. However, by an order dated 23.4.2009, the said Appeal was rejected. Subsequently, the petitioner was issued a charge sheet. Three charges were framed against the petitioner. The petitioner filed his reply on 22.4.2010. The Enquiry Officer, after completing the departmental enquiry, concluded that all the three charges were duly proved, in their entirety, against the petitioner. The petitioner filed his statement against the findings of the Enquiry Officer. After considering the petitioner's statement and the enquiry report, by order dated 17.2.2011, the petitioner was imposed with the punishment of compulsory retirement from service. Aggrieved by the punishment order of compulsory retirement, on 18.4.2011, the petitioner filed a department appeal. However, the authority rejected his appeal by order dated 11.8.2011.

(3.) MR . M.N. Prasanna, the learned counsel for the petitioner, has raised the following contentions before this Court : firstly, Regulation 33 of the Syndicate Bank (Employees') Pension Regulations, 1995 ('the Regulations' for short), deals with compulsory retirement pension. According to Regulation 33 of the Regulations, an employee who has compulsorily retired by way of penalty, may be granted either full pension or not less than two -third of the pension. Thus, according to the learned counsel, there cannot be any deduction that would reduce the pension to less than two -third of the pension required to be paid to an employee.