Rekha S. Srivastava vs Punjab National Bank Through Its ...
2014 Latest Caselaw 5416 Del

19
*           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.

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