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State Bank of India vs P. Zadenga

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 868Decided 3 Oct 2023
Civil Appeal No. 2518 of 2012
Hrishikesh Roy · Sanjay Karol

Background

An Assistant at a State Bank of India branch in Aizawl was accused of not depositing customer challan amounts into the bank's account, leading to FIRs and criminal cases against him, and separately to departmental disciplinary proceedings. He argued that a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) between banks and employee unions barred disciplinary proceedings from continuing while criminal cases on the same facts were pending. He was nonetheless found guilty in the departmental inquiry and dismissed from service in 2003; his departmental appeal was rejected in 2004, after which he challenged the dismissal before the Gauhati High Court, which ruled in his favour, a decision upheld in appeal by a Division Bench.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined Clause 4 of the MoS and held that it does not create an absolute bar on disciplinary proceedings whenever a criminal case is pending. It only permits, and does not mandate, a stay, and only for a reasonable time once a delayed prosecution actually begins. The Court noted the employee never raised the MoS or asked for postponement during the disciplinary inquiry itself, raised it only years later as a "belated attempt," and that the FIR from 1996 still had no trial completion in sight by 2023. It reaffirmed settled law that departmental and criminal proceedings are separate in nature, standard of proof, and objective, so an acquittal (or even a pending trial) in one does not automatically entitle the employee to relief or discharge in the other. Finding the High Court's contrary reasoning unsupported, the Supreme Court set aside both High Court orders and restored the bank's original dismissal order.

Lesson Learnt

An employee facing both a criminal case and a departmental inquiry over the same conduct cannot assume the departmental process must wait indefinitely: any objection to simultaneous proceedings must be raised promptly during the inquiry, and even an acquittal in the criminal case does not automatically wipe out disciplinary consequences, because the two proceedings serve different purposes and apply different standards.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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