MARWAR GRAMIN BANK AND ANR.versusRAM PAL CHOUHAN

A                   MARWAR GRAMIN BANK AND ANR.
                                v.
                         RAM PAL CHOUHAN

                                 APRIL 27, 2006

B                 [ARIJIT PASAYAT AND S.H. KAPADIA, JJ.]


         Service Law:

         Marwar Gramin Bank (Staff) Service Regulations, 1980; Regulation
c 30(1)(/):
          Employee-Illegal gratification/mis-conduct-Disciplinary proceedings-
    Dismissal ofemployee from service-Challenge t<>--Dismissed by Single Judge
    of High Court-Reversed by the Division Bench of the High Court quashing
D   the order of dismissal-On appeal, Held: Admission of charges by the
    employee---Other persons could have hardly thrown any light on these issues-
    Jn the absence of witnesses to the incident, no prejudice was caused by the
    authorities by non-observance of principles of natural justice-Since finding
    as regards the charges in question was not considered by the High Court in
    the proper perspective, the matter remitted back to the High Court for
E   consideration afresh.

         The respondent-employee was dismissed from service having been
    found guilty of the charge of misconduct/illegal gratification under the
    provisions of Regulations 30(1)(f) of the Marwar Gramin Bank (Staff)
    Service Regulations, 1980.
F
         Questioning the order passed by the Disciplinary Authority, the
    respondent filed a writ application which was dismissed by the Single
    Judge. On appeal, Division Bench of the High Court quashed the orders
    of Disciplinary Authority and that of the Appellate Authority. Hence the
G   present appeal.

         The appellants contended that the principles of natural justice have
    no application to the facts of the present case; and that the High Court
    did not deal with all the charges separately.


H                                       408
      MARWARGRAMINBANK v. RAMPALCHOUHAN [PASAYAT,J.] 409

      Disposing of the appeal, the Court                                        A
        HELD: The Branch Manager had deposed as a management witness.
 He was cross-examined by the respondent-employee, but further prayer
 was made to produce him again. No reason was indicated as to why such
a prayer was being made, when he was already cross examined. As a
 matter of fact, the sustainability of charge nos. 6 and 7 depended on the      B
 accepted stand of the respondent. Other persons could have hardly thrown
any light on the issue. He appears to have accepted the allegations. That
 being so, the question of any prejudice being caused by alleged non-
observance of principles of natural justice in the absence of the witnesses
being called does not arise. The High Court does not appear to have             C
considered this aspect and had in a routine manner applied the logic
applicable to the other charges to charge nos. 6 and 7. The notice issued
was restricted to the findings as regards charge nos. 6 and 7. As the High
Court has not considered the issue in the proper perspective, the matter
is remitted back for consideration afresh on charge Nos. 6 and 7. However,
it is clarified that no opinion has been expressed on the merits of the case.   D
                                                        (412-F-G"H; 413-A)

      CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 2324 of2006.

     From the Order dated 3.6.2004 of the High Court of Judicature Rajasthan
in D.B.C.S.A. (Writ) No. 617/2003.                                              E
      Amarender Sen, Nalin Sangal, Deba P. Mohanty and Anil Kumar Sangal
for the Appellants.

     Manu Mridul, Kailash Chandra Bhatt, Anand Kumar Vatsya and Surya
Kant for the Respondent.                                                        F
      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

      ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. Leave granted.

      Challenge in this appeal is to the correctness of the judgment rendered
by a Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur allowing the D.B.      G
Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No.617 of 2003 filed by the respondent. By the
impugned order the High Court held as follows:

           "In view of the aforesaid discussion, we are of the view that the
       impugned order of termination dated 8th August, 1995 suffers from
       the procedural error leading to the manifest injustice or the vice of    H
    410                      SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. I S.C.R.

A          violation of principles of natural justice.

               Consequently, special appeal is allowed. The order of the leaned
           Single Judge dated 22nd July, 2003 is set aside. The writ petition is
           allowed. The order of the Disciplinary Authority dated 3rd August,
           1995-Annexure- I and the order of the Appellate Authority dated
B          28.12.1995-Annexure-2 are quashed and set aside. It is directed that
           the appellant shall be reinstated in service with all consequential
           benefits."

         On 27.9.2004 notice was issued by this Court limited to sustainability
    of High Court's judgment vis-a-vis charge Nos.6 and 7.
c
          A brief reference to the factual aspects would suffice.

          The respondent was dismissed from service under the provisions of
    Regulations 30(1)(t) of the Marwar Gramin Bank (Staft) Service Regulations,
D   1980 (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") having been found guilty
    of the charge of misconduct levelled against him while he was posted at
    Sarnau Branch of the appellant-Marwar Gramin Bank in District Jalore. A
    complaint came to be filed by some of the loanees against him alleging inter
    alia that he demanded bribe for providing them relief under the Agricultural
    Rural Bank Relief Regulations. A preliminary enquiry was conducted by
E   Shanti Lal Sharma, who recorded the statements of the Manager, Field
    Supervisor and other staff members and also recorded the statements of the
    complainants. After conducting the preliminary enquiry, disciplinary
    proceedings were initiated under Regulation 30 of the Regulations. The
    respondent was served with a memorandum dated 6.9.1991 whereby he was
F   informed that an enquiry is proposed against him on the charges set out in
    the statement of charges and explained in the statement of allegations. The
    charges against the respondent set out are as follows:-"

            "'Charge No. I

           That the respondent demanded Rs. I 00 from one Narsi as bribe for
G          closing his account and he told the loanees to give money and take
           the deposit receipts later on and because of not giving of receipts by
           him, he loanees did not deposit the money in the Bank and therefore,
           he did not watch the interest of the Bank and thus, the violated
           Regulations 17 and 19 of the Regulations of 1980.
H
MARWARGRAMINBANK v. RAMPALCHOUHAN [PASAYAT,J.] 411

 Charge No.2     '                                                          A
 That the respondent did not give correct information to Ganesha and
 Mohan Lal in respect of their accounts and he harassed the loanees
 and by not giving correct information to the loanees and harassing
 the loanees, he violated Circular dated 27.7.1981 and further, he
 collected Rs.232.65 more from Mohan Lal as bribe and thus, he              B
 violated Regulations 17 and 19 of the Regulations of 1980.

 Charge No.3
 That the respondent demanded Rs.200 as bribe from one Karmi and
 further, the respondent was given Rs.1400/- towards loan amount by
 Karmi, but the respondent did not deposit that money in the Bank and       C
 kept that amount with him unauthorisedly and thus, he did not deposit
 the amount received from the loanees in the bank and thus, violated
 the Circular dated 18.2.1984 and further by demanding bribe and
 keeping the recovered amount towards loan with him, he violated the
 provisions of Regulations 17 and 19 of the Regulations of 1980.            D
 Charge No.4.
 That similarly, the respondent also demanded bribe from Teja and
 further, he took Rs. 1300 from Teja, but did not deposit that money
 in the Bank and kept that amount with him unauthorisedly and
 therefore, he violated the instructions contained in the circulars dated   E
 27.7.1981 and 18.2.1984 and also violated the provisions of
 Regulations 17 and 19 of the Regulations of 1980.

 Charge No.5

 That the respondent did not give correct information to the loanees        F
 in respect of balance and already deposited loan amount and he
 harassed the loanees and also gave wrong information to them and
 thus, he lowered down the image of the Bank.
 Charge No.6

That on 25.10.1990, he was Cashier and cash book was not closed by          G
him on that day and though the amount was actually received on
26.10.1990, but he issued the receipts in the date of 25.10.1990 and
thus, violated the instructions contained in Circular dated 18.2.1984.

 Charge No.7
 That on the vouchers dated 25.10.1990, the respondent did not mention      H
    412                     SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. I S.C.R.

A           the description of notes."

          Questioning the order passed by the Disciplinary Authority, a writ
    application was filed which was dismissed by learned Single Judge. Special
    Appeal was allowed by the Division Bench and the orders of Disciplinary
    Authority and that of the Appellate Authority were quashed.
B
           Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the logic of alleged
    violation of principles of natural justice have no application to the facts of the
    present case and in any event relating to charge nos. 6 and 7. The explanation
    offered by the respondent was duly considered and was found unacceptable.
    The High Court did not deal with charge nos. 6 and 7 separately and the
C   principles in relation to charge nos. 1 to 5 were applied to charge nos. 6 and
    7 also.

        Learned counsel for the respondent on the other hand submitted that
  the High Court has taken note of the deficiencies in the conduct of proceedings
D and has rightly interfered with the order passed by the authorities. It is to be
  noted that in the counter affidavit filed in this Court it has been stated as
  follows:

          "3(a) That when witness Shri Mangla Ram was questioned vide
                Question No.22 whether on that day i.e. 26.10.1990 Mohan/Rama
E               came to get his accounts closed and had brought 3 to 4 other
                loanees with him, Shri Choudhury answered that the Account of
                Mohan son of Rama being DIR/26 ~tood closed on 25.10.90."

          It appears from the record that the Branch Manager Shri Mangla Ram
    had deposed as a management witness. He was cross-examined by the
F   respondent; but further prayer was made to produce Shri Mangla Ram
    Choudhury again. No reason was indicated as to why such a prayer was
    being made, after he had cross examined him. As a matter of fact, the
    sustainability of charge nos. 6 and 7 depended on the accepted stand of the
    respondent. Other persons could have hardly thrown any light on the issue.
    He appears to have accepted the allegations. That being so, the question of
G   any prejudice being caused by alleged non-observance of principles of natural
    justice in the absence of the witnesses being called does not arise. The High
    Court does not appear to have considered this aspect and had in a routine
    manner applied the logic applicable to the other charges to charge nos. 6 and
    7.
H                                                                                        .....
           MARWARGRAMINBANK v. RAMPALCHOUHAN [PASAYAT,J.) 413

            The notice issued was restricted to the findings as regards charge nos.   A
      6 and 7. As the High Court has not considered the issue in the proper
      perspective, we remit the matter for consideration afresh on charge Nos. 6
      and 7. We make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on the merits
      of the case.

           The appeal is accordingly disposed of, with no order as to costs.          B
      S.K.S.                                                  Appeal disposed of.




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