B S NEGI SON OF GOVERDHAN SINGH Vs. GENERAL MANAGER, SYNDICATE BANK; SYNDICATE BANK THROUGH ITS DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER; SYNDICATE BANK THROUGH ITS MANAGER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed for quashing the order dated 12th March, 1994 passed by the Deputy General Manager of the Syndicate Bank which the petitioner was dismissed from the services of the Bank with immediate effect and the order dated 14th June, 1994 passed by the Appellate Authority dismissing the appeal filed by the petitioner against the aforesaid order.

(2.) The petitioner was served with a charge-sheet dated 14th January, 1988 containing the charge that he had joined the services of the Bank on 29th January, 1980 as a Clerk by declaring that he belonged to the Schedule Tribe Community which fact was not true and, therefore, by wrongly deriving the benefit meant for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribe he had committed act of gross misconduct. An enquiry was held and the Enquiring Authority submitted a detailed report dated 2 December, 1993. It mentions that the petitioner had submitted an application on 26 October, 1979 for seeking appointment stating that he belonged to Scheduled Tribe Category and after getting through the examination he submitted the application dated 14th February, 1980 enclosing certain documents including the certificate dated 20th January, 1977 purported to have been issued by Sri Pratap Singh Negi M.P. Lok Sabha certifying that the petitioner belongs to Naik Caste which comes under Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner was asked to submit a certificate from the Competent Authority, as M.P. was not the competent authority to issue the certificate. The petitioner then submitted a certificate purported to have been issued by the Tehsildar Garh Mukteshwar stating that the petitioner belongs to village Haripur, Tehsil Kotdwara, district Pauri Garhwal and belongs to Naik caste which has been recognised as Scheduled Tribe. The Regional Office, however, informed the Bank on the basis of information received from, the Commission for SCs/STs, Government of India, New Delhi that Naik Community is neither Scheduled Caste nor Scheduled Tribe in Uttar Pradesh. The petitioner was, therefore, asked to submit a certificate of the competent authority where he or his family normally resided. The petitioner this time submitted a certificate dated 31st December, 1984 issued by the Tehsildar Meerut that the petitioner belongs to Boksha Naik which is a Scheduled Tribe. The report of the Enquiry Officer further mentions that on making enquiries by the authority it was revealed that the petitioner does not belong to Boksha Naik but belongs to Sawarna Hindu Rajpoot Jati which is not a Backward Caste. This fact was also confirmed by the certificate issued by the District Magistrate Garhwal to which place the petitioner belongs. It has also been stated that the earlier certificate issued by the Tehsildar Meerut was, accordingly, annulled, In these circumstances the Enquiry Officer has concluded that the petitioner has wrongly derived benefit which was made available to SC/ST Category by producing false certificates. The Enquiry Officer has also noted that initially the evidence was recorded ex-parte as the petitioner did not appear but subsequently the petitioner made an application before the Disciplinary Authority to advice the Enquiry Officer to permit him to depose with the stipulation that he will not seek permission for cross examination of the Management witnesses. On such an application having been filed, the petitioner was given an opportunity to place his case.

(3.) The Disciplinary Authority thereafter issued notice to the petitioner to submit his comments on the report of the Enquiry Officer as to why the proposed punishment should not be imposed upon him. The petitioner submitted a reply and the Disciplinary Authority after a careful analysis of the materials available on record concluded that the petitioner was guilty of the misconduct and imposed the punishment upon the petitioner. The petitioner filed an appeal against the said order. The Appellate Authority after noticing the factual position concluded that the documents produced during the enquiry amply prove that the petitioner did not belong to Scheduled Tribe as wrongly declared by him for the purposes of seeking appointment in the Bank and thus the very appointment of the petitioner was on the basis of misrepresentation of facts.