M.P.SURESH BABU Vs. INDIAN BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner joined the service of Indian Bank (hereinafter referred to as the 'Bank', for short), the 1st respondent, on 26/9/1994 as Assistant Manager (Agriculture) in the scale of Junior Manager Grade-1. Later, on 26/9/2007, the petitioner took charge as the Manager of Microsate branch of the Bank which was opened at that time with the objective of providing finance exclusively for Self Help Groups (SHG). The petitioner states that, during his tenure as the Branch Manager, he had sanctioned loans amounting to Rs.33.21 crores and that not a single account was treated as non-performing and all the loanees were regular in repayment of the loan. The petitioner was transferred from the said branch on 24/3/2009 without assigning any reason.

(2.) Pursuant to a vigilance investigation, on 4/1/2010, the petitioner was issued with Ext.P8 Articles of Charges and statement of imputations of misconduct. The charges levelled against the petitioner are extracted hereunder:

(3.) The petitioner submitted Ext.P9 reply denying the charges and stating that all the loans were sanctioned in the best interest to meet the corporate expectations for the growth of branch without violating any norms and at the time of leaving the branch, recovery was almost 95%.