The act of a workman of the State Bank of India (SBI) of having displayed a portrait of B.R. Ambedkar in a bank without obtaining permission from higher authorities does not call for the extreme punishment of removal from service, the Madras High Court has said.
A Bench of Justices M. Duraiswamy and J. Sathya Narayana Prasad set aside a 2014 order of a single judge, who had interfered with a 2012 directive of an industrial tribunal to reinstate the workman, M. Gowrishankar, in service with continuity of service, but without back wages.
The Bench said the denial of back wages was enough punishment for the workman, who had been found guilty of only a minor misconduct in the departmental inquiry. It directed the bank to pay all attendant benefits, except back wages, to the workman within three months.
Though the incident in question had taken place in 2004, when prior permission was necessary for displaying portraits inside bank branches, the judges took note of a subsequent circular issued by the Finance Ministry in September 2006, instructing banks to display portraits of Ambedkar.
The workman’s counsel, N.G.R. Prasad, brought to the notice of the court that he had joined SBI as a Daftry in 1986. While serving as a sub staff at Adyar branch in July 2004, he was accused of entering the bank forcibly with many outsiders and hanging the portrait without permission.
Hence, after an inquiry, an Assistant General Manager dismissed the workman from service in December 2005. On appeal, a Deputy General Manager modified the punishment from dismissal to removal from service, so that he could at least obtain superannuation benefits.
Despite such sympathy, the workman could not obtain superannuation benefits since it could be given only to those who had completed 20 years of service, whereas he had completed only 19 years and six months of service. Therefore, he raised an industrial dispute and approached the tribunal.
