[Cites 4, Cited by 0]
Uttarakhand High Court
WPSS/952/2026 on 16 April, 2026
Author: Manoj Kumar Tiwari
Bench: Manoj Kumar Tiwari
2026:UHC:2706
Office Notes,
reports, orders
or proceedings
SL.
Date or directions COURT'S OR JUDGE'S ORDERS
No.
and Registrar's
order with
Signatures
WPSS 952/2026
Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.
Ms. Devanshi Joshi, Advocate, i/b
Mr. Vivek Pathak, Advocate for the
petitioner.
Mr. Anil Kumar Joshi, Advocate,
for the respondents.
(2) Petitioner was serving as Junior
Management Grade Scale I Officer in the
Nainital Bank Ltd. He was removed from
service vide order dated 30.11.2024,
passed by respondent no. 3 (Vice
President). Petitioner challenged the
punishment of removal by filing an appeal,
which was dismissed by respondent no. 2.
Thus feeling aggrieved, petitioner has
approached this Court challenging the order
passed by the disciplinary authority, as
affirmed by the appellate authority.
(3) Learned Counsel for the bank,
however, raised a preliminary objection that
the Nainital Bank Ltd. is not "State" within
the meaning of Article 12 of the
Constitution, as it is neither a nationalised
bank nor established under any statute and
it has been constituted under the
Companies Act as a Scheduled Commercial
Bank, therefore, in view of the law declared
by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Federal Bank
Ltd. v. Sagar Thomas & Others, reported as
2003 (10) SCC 733, writ petition would not
be maintainable. He also relies upon a
judgment rendered by learned Single Judge
of this Court in Civil Writ Petition No. 754 of
2006 (S/S), Umendra Kumar Tandon v. The
Chairman, Bank of Baroda, where it was
held that writ petition would not be
2026:UHC:2706
maintainable against Nainital Bank Ltd.
(4) Learned Counsel for the petitioner,
however, relies upon another judgment,
rendered by learned Single Judge of this
Court in WPSS No. 365 of 2015, Rajat Sah
v. Chairman and C.E.O., Nainital Bank &
Others, for contending that writ petition
would be maintainable.
(5) Having regard to the ratio laid
down by Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case
of Federal Bank Ltd. v. Sagar Thomas,
which is extracted below, this Court is of
the considered opinion that the writ petition
would not be maintainable against Nainital
Bank Ltd, which is a Scheduled Commercial
Bank, registered under Companies Act.
"For the discussion held above, in
our view, a private company carrying on
banking business as a scheduled bank, cannot
be termed as an institution or company
carrying on any statutory or public duty. A
private body or a person may be amenable to
writ jurisdiction only where it may become
necessary to compel such body or association
to enforce any statutory obligations or such
obligations of public nature casting positive
obligation upon it. We don't find such
conditions are fulfilled in respect of a private
company carrying on a commercial activity of
banking. Merely regulatory provisions to
ensure such activity carried on by private
bodies work within a discipline, do not confer
any such status upon the company nor puts
any such obligation upon it which may be
enforced through issue of a writ under Article
226 of the Constitution. Present is a case of
disciplinary action being taken against its
employee by the appellant Bank. Respondent's
service with the bank stands terminated. The
action of the Bank was challenged by the
respondent by filing a writ petition
2026:UHC:2706
under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
The respondent is not trying to enforce any
statutory duty on the part of the Bank. That
being the position, the appeal deserves to be
allowed.
In the result, the appeal is allowed and the
judgment and order passed by the High Court
is set aside and the writ petition is held to be
not maintainable."
(6) Writ petition is, accordingly,
dismissed as not maintainable with liberty
to the petitioner to approach the forum
available to him under the law.
(Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.)
16.4.2026
Pr
PRABODH
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2.5.4.20=3a082a00a95aff911a9559743af8f21c50602ff6eae4e61
KUMAR
af3aeab198d462503, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND,
serialNumber=0DC111E8D8CA66E16B940EFDF806ACCC1AB58
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Date: 2026.04.16 18:16:23 +05'30'
2026:UHC:2706
