MD.AKHTAR HUSSAIN Vs. BANK OF INDIA, THROUGH THE REGIONAL MANAGER AND THE REGIONAL LABOUR COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD .

(2.) THE petitioner who was posted as a Cashier at Hunterganj, Branch and Ramgarh Cantt branch was proceeded departmentally for the following charges: 1. During your tenure at Bank's Hunterganj Branch you permitted withdrawals to a third party in S/B A/C No. 3611 of Md. Shoriff in contravention of the banking norms and unanthorisedly allowed transfer entries from the above account of the account holder. (a) on 25.6.97 you permitted a withdrawal of Rs. 10,000.00 from S/B A/C No. 3611 of Md Shariff to a third party by means of a withdrawal slip, without accompanied by the pass book, violating the ruins of the bank. on 16.10.198/ you permitted a withdrawal of Rs. 12,000.00 from the same S/B A/C No 3611 of Md. Shariff to a third party by means of a withdrawal slip without any supporting pass book, violating the rules of the bank. (c) On 08.08.198/ you prepared a set of transfer voucher of Rs. 3,000.00 from S/B A/C No. 3611 of Md. Shariff to S/B A/C No. 19/ of Md. Tahir Hussain, son of the account holder. The above transfer transactions were allowed by you on the strength of a letter of authority purportedly signed by the account holder Md. Shariff Subsequently, it was reported that the same authority letter was neither signed by the account holder nor were you authorised for that transfer entry transaction. The account holder had - subsequently denied having signed the said authority letter and sign there on the said authority letter bear certain variations when compared with specimen signature of the account holder. Thus you unauthorisedly allowed transfer entries from the above account No. 3611 of the account holder. II. During your tenure at Bank's Ramgarh Cantt Branch on 16.02.1994 you deposited a cheque bearing No. 046539 dated 16.02.1994 of United Bank of India, Ramgarh Cantt Branch for Rs. 16,616.70 in the S/B Joint Account of your wife and children (S/B A/C No. 7/98). The cheque was sent for collection through clearing house. However, on the same day i.e. on 16.02.1994 you posted a withdrawal slip for Rs. 15,000.00 in the same account and allowed withdrawal from the same Joint Account without the permission of the Manager. As per normal rules and practice, Bank does not allow any withdrawal against clearing cheque on the same day without the specific permission of the Manager. Thus, you exceed your authority and extended undue accommodation to your wife in the matter of effecting withdrawal from her account against the clearing cheque on same day it is deposited and sent for collection, and violated the norms and practices of Bank. III. During your tenure at Bank's Ramgarh Cantt Branch, you have entered into fraudulent transactions and have withdrawn money unauthorisedly from the Customer's account on different occasion, dishonestly, in the following: i) S/B A/C No. 6696 of Md. Atuul Haque. You issued a Cheque book containing leaves bearing Nos. from 93781 to 93790 in the captioned account of Md. Ataul Haque without obtaining the requisition slip from the account holder Sri. Huque. Thereafter, you used the first leaf of the Cheque book i.e. cheque No. 93781 and handed over the same to one of your relatives Mustaq Ahmad who in turn collected the above fraudulent amount of Rs. 15,000.00 through his S/B Account No. 5829 with Central Bank of India on 06.04.1994. The above cheque was cancelled by you, when it came for collection from Central Bank of India. The signature of the drawer on the said cheque considerably differs when compared with Ataul Haque's specimen signature appearing on Bank's records, Thus you involved yourself in fraudulent transaction and defrauded Bank's account holder Shri Ataul Huque. ii) S/B A/C No. 7463 of Md. Tahseem (Minor) S/o. Md. Ataul Hague. You issued a cheque Book containing leaves bearing Nos. from 948851 to 948875 in the captioned account of Md. Tahseem without obtaining the requisition slip from the account holder. You handed over a cheque No. 948851 for Rs.10000.00 fraudulently drawn on the above account to your relative Mustaq Ahmad who in turn collected the cheque through his S/B A/C No. 5829 with Central Bank of India, Ramgarh Cantt. Branch and the data of withdrawal was 24.08.1992. Similarly, you have used two other cheque leaves from the above cheque book fraudulently issued, and you have withdrawn Rs. 10.000.00 through cheque No. 948855 dated 11.01 93 and 650.00 through cheque No. 948856 dated 10.03.93 and directly obtained the proceeds of the cheques in two occasions by signing on the reverse of the cheque leaves. The account holder had neither applied for the cheque book nor had issued the above stated three cheques as referred above, on any occasion. Thus you have entered into fraudulent (sic) relatives and withdrawn money form the banks customer's accounts dishonestly in utter disregard to the norms of the Bank. Out of the said charge, the Charge Nos. 1(a) and (b) and II noticed above, were not proved. However, Charge No. 1(c) and III(i) and (ii) were found proved against the petitioner. Thereafter, by issue of Annexure -4, penalty letter was issued by the Regional Manager - cum - Disciplinary authority whereby, for the Charges I(c) and III, the petitioner was awarded punishment of dismissal from service vide order dated 17.11.1995 without any notice.

(3.) IN the instant writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the penalty order dated 17.11.1995 (ANNEXURE -4) as well as the Award of the Central Government Industrial Tribunal dated 17th May, 2004 (ANNEXURE -6) .