LAWS(DLH)-2011-7-506

SHYAM SUNDER ARORA Vs. ING VYSYA BANK LTD.

Decided On July 26, 2011
SHYAM SUNDER ARORA Appellant
V/S
Ing Vysya Bank Ltd. Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner seeks a direction to the Respondent ING Vysya Bank Ltd. ('Bank'), which is not a nationalised Bank, not to retire the Petitioner before 31st July 2013, i.e., before attaining sixty years of age.

(2.) The Petitioner joined the Respondent Bank as a clerk in September 1975 knowing well that the retirement age for officers in the Bank was fifty-eight years. An agitation was launched by All India ING Vysya Bank Officers Association in December 2010 pressing for certain demands including raising the retirement age of officers to sixty years in tune with the rest of the banking industry. On 20th December 2010, the Bank informed the Association by an e-mail that the enhancement of the retirement age was the prerogative of the management. The Bank was willing to continue offering extension of services to those officers of the Bank who were willing to be open and flexible in terms of the assigned roles/locations as per organizational needs.

(3.) On the question of maintainability of the writ petition, Mr. M.M. Tripathi, learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioner placed reliance on the decisions in Anadi Mukta Sadguru Shree Muktajee Vandas Swami Suvarna Jayanti Mahotsav Smarak Trust v. V.R. Rudani, 1989 AIR(SC) 1607 and Zee Telefilms Ltd. v. Union of India, 2005 4 SCC 649. Although he acknowledges that in Federal Bank v. Sagar Thomas, 2003 10 SCC 733, the Supreme Court held that a writ petition would not be maintainable against the Federal Bank merely because it was in the banking industry, he submits since the prayer in the present writ petition concerns the non- conformity of the Bank's retirement age policy with the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India ('RBI'), the present writ petition is maintainable.