Rekha S. Srivastava vs Punjab National Bank Through Its ...

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*           IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+          W.P.(C) 7420/2014 & CM No.17614/2014 (stay)

                                               Decided on 31.10.2014

IN THE MATTER OF :
REKHA S. SRIVASTAVA                                  ..... Petitioner

                       Through : Mr. Nalin Tripathi, Advocate

                       versus

PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK THROUGH ITS CHAIRMAN CUM GENERAL
MANAGER                                    ..... Respondent

                       Through : Mr. Jagat Arora, Advocate

CORAM
HON'BLE MS.JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI

HIMA KOHLI, J. (Oral)

1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner, who was working at the post of Senior Manager in the respondent/Bank, praying inter alia for declaring as illegal, the order dated 24.8.2013 passed by the Disciplinary Authority, pursuant to issuance of charge- sheet dated 30.11.2010 initiating disciplinary proceedings against her and deciding inter alia to impose on her the following major penalty:

"Reduction to the initial stage of Scale-III in the time scale of pay for a period of three years with further directions that she will not earn increments of pay during the period of such reduction and on the expiry of such period, the reduction will have the effect of postponing the future increments of pay." Under Regulation 4(f) of Punjab National Bank Officer Employees' (D&A) Regulations, 1977 upon Smt. Rekha Srivastava."

2. Mr. Tripathi, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that on 30.11.2010, a charge-sheet was served upon the petitioner relating to some accounts maintained in the Mall Road Branch of the respondent/Bank. Thereafter, an Enquiry Officer was appointed and an enquiry was conducted in respect of the said charge-sheet. Finally, on 16.1.2013, an enquiry report was submitted by the Enquiry Officer. The petitioner was afforded an opportunity by the Disciplinary Authority to submit a representation against the observations made in the enquiry report, which she did. Finally, the Disciplinary Authority passed the impugned order dated 28.4.2013.

3. Aggrieved by the aforesaid order, the petitioner filed a statutory appeal before the Appellate Authority on 8.11.2013, but till date, the said appeal remains pending and after waiting for almost one year, the petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present petition.

4. Mr. Arora, learned counsel for the respondent/Bank, who appears on advance copy of the paper book, assures the Court that he shall call upon the department to dispose of the statutory appeal filed by the petitioner against the order dated 24.8.2013 as expeditiously as possible.

W.P.(C) 7420/2014 Page 2 of 3

5. Having regard to the aforesaid submission made by the counsel for the respondent/Bank, with the consent of the parties, the present petition is disposed of with directions issued to the respondent/Bank to pass a speaking order on the pending statutory appeal filed by the petitioner within a period of four weeks from today, under written intimation to her. Needless to state that if the petitioner is aggrieved by the decision taken by the Appellate Authority, she shall be entitled to seek her remedies in accordance with law.

6. The writ petition is disposed of, along with the pending application.

(HIMA KOHLI) JUDGE OCTOBER 31, 2014 sk W.P.(C) 7420/2014 Page 3 of 3