THE HON'BLE Ms. JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION No. 23981 OF 1999 Dated: 03.02.2011 Between: Ramesh Prasad Kala ..... Petitioner AND State Bank of India and another .....Respondents THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G. ROHINI WRIT PETITION No. 23981 OF 1999 ORDER : The petitioner herein joined the services of the State Bank of India as Watchman on 26.09.1977, which was subsequently converted as Messenger with effect from 21.05.1978. On 13.01.1998 the petitioner had applied for voluntary retirement and the same was accepted by the respondents. Accordingly, the petitioner was relieved on 30.06.1998. However, by letter dated 20.11.1998 the petitioner was informed that in view of his unauthorized leave for 21 days with effect from 20.05.1993 to 09.06.1993, the petitioner had not completed 20 years of service by the date of his retirement and therefore, he was not entitled to pension. Aggrieved by the same, the present writ petition has been filed. I have heard the learned counsel for both the parties and perused the material available on record. As could be seen, the specific case of the petitioner is that he had completed 20 years of service since he joined on 26.09.1977 and was relieved on retirement on 30.06.1998. No counter affidavit is filed on behalf of the respondents and no material is available on record to show that the petitioner was on unauthorized leave from 20.05.1993 to 09.06.1993. Moreover the petitioner was apparently not given an opportunity to make his representation before passing the impugned order. In the circumstances, I deem it appropriate to dispose of the Writ Petition permitting the petitioner to submit his explanation treating the impugned proceedings dated 20.11.1998 as a show cause notice and submit his explanation within four weeks from the date of receipt of this order. If any such explanation is received, the respondents shall consider the same and pass appropriate orders afresh in accordance with law within a period of eight (8) weeks thereafter. No costs. ___________ G. ROHINI, J Date : 03.02.2011 Ivd