-: 1 :- IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY APPELLATE SIDE WRIT PETITION NO.5020 OF 1996 Bank of India, a nationalised Bank, having its Head Office at Express Towers, Nariman Point, Bombay--400 021 and Pune Zonal Office at 1162/6, Shivajinagar, University Road, Near Observatory, Pune-411 005. : Petitioner V/s. 1. Mr.U.C.Agrawal, Wadi Darwaza, P.O. Shendurni, Dist. Jalgaon--424 204. 2. Mr.S.B. Panse, Presiding Officer, Central Government Industrial Tribunal No.2, Bombay, Peer Nariman Street, Fort, Bombay--400 001. : Respondents ... Mr.P.K.Rele, Senior Advocate, with Mr.Rajesh P. Rele and Mr.Amit G. i/b. Mr.S.S.Pakale for the petitioner. -: 2 :- None present for the respondents. CORAM : S.A. BOBDE, J. DATE : JANUARY 12, 2009. ORAL JUDGEMENT 1. The petitioner-Bank has challenged the award of the Presiding Officer, Central Government Industrial Tribunal No.2, Bombay, by which the learned Presiding Officer has directed reinstatement of the respondent no.1 in the services of the Bank. 2. The respondent no.1 was appointed as an Agricultural Assistant and he served in that capacity at Jalgaon Branch for about ten-and-a-half years. He was charged with gross misconduct within the meaning of paragraph 9.5(J) of the Bipartite Settlement dated 19.10.19766. He was charged with cheating seven borrowers of the Bank in collusion with a Doctor and one cattle seller. According to the Bank, he had inflated the sale receipts in respect of purchase of cows and unauthorisedly retained with him an amount of Rs.2,252.20 for 13 to 15 days, though prohibited by the Branch Manager. After an inquiry, two charges were proved and the respondent no.1 was punished by dismissal. 3. Mr.Rele, the learned counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the relief of reinstatement is totally unwarranted in the present case and also as a matter of -: 3 :- law. He submitted that as a matter of law and the facts of this case, the relief of reinstatement was totally unwarranted. The learned counsel submitted that highest standards of honesty and integrity are expected from employees of the Bank. The respondent no.1, having been found to have misappropriated poor and illiterate borrowers, had clearly, from the nature of the charges proved, lost the confidence of the Bank and the Industrial Court ought not to have granted the relief of reinstatement. It appears from the order of the learned Industrial Tribunal that the Industrial Tribunal has found no fault with the domestic inquiry and has observed that none of the findings of the Inquiry Officer are perverse. The learned Industrial Tribunal, however, seems to have taken an inexplicably soft attitude towards the respondent no.1 by holding that the penalty of dismissal is too harsh, in spite of recording a finding that the respondent no.1 "tried to get some monetory gain". The learned Industrial Tribunal has also accepted that the faith of the management in the respondent no.1 is reduced, but apparently observed that such work would not be given to him again. It is obvious that the learned Industrial Tribunal has lost sight of important circumstances of the case, viz., that the respondent no.1 was found to have attempted to obtain an undue monetary advantage by virtue of his position in the Bank by apparently duping the poor -: 4 :- and illiterate borrowers. In the circumstances, as long as the respondent no.1 was employed in the Bank, he would deal with monetary transaction and, therefore, expressing a fond hope that such work would not be allotted to him again would not ensure that there was loss to the Bank and the borrower in future. It was not for the learned Industrial Tribunal to substitute the punishment and that too without recording a finding that it was shockingly disproportionate to the proved charges. 4. The impugned award is, therefore, set aside. The order of dismissal of the respondent no.1 is hereby upheld. The petitioner-Bank shall be entitled to withdraw the amounts deposited by it under section 17-B pursuant to the order of this Court dated 5.11.1996 together with accrued interest. 5. Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms. S.A. BOBDE, J.