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The Management of State Bank of India v. Smita Sharad Deshmukh

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 3423 of 2017)Decided 1 Mar 2017
Civil Appeal No. 3423 of 2017
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar

Background

A bank employee submitted a certificate purportedly from the Indian Institute of Bankers claiming she had passed the CAIIB Part-II examination and began drawing extra monetary benefits on that basis. A domestic enquiry found the certificate was forged, and she was dismissed from service in 2003, with the dismissal upheld on appeal and by the Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court. However, the High Court later ordered her reinstatement with 50% back wages, reasoning that the Bank had not specifically proved she knew the certificate was forged, prompting the Bank's appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court's reasoning was flawed, since the Labour Court had already thoroughly analysed the evidence, including the employee's inability to explain a postal receipt she produced, and an unexplained "revaluation" application dated after she had already been declared successful, and concluded she clearly knew of the forgery. The Court went further and directly verified the facts: on its own order, the Indian Institute of Bankers confirmed in writing that the employee had never actually applied for any revaluation and had secured only 45 and 23 marks in her two subjects, directly contradicting her claims and exposing further fabricated-looking documents she filed before the Supreme Court itself. Finding no ground to interfere with the dismissal or to treat the punishment as disproportionate, the Court set aside the High Court's judgment and allowed the Bank's appeal, while clarifying that the wages and benefits already paid to the employee would not be recovered.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will independently verify disputed factual claims (here, by directly querying the issuing institute) rather than accept a litigant's unsupported assertions, and an employee's dismissal for submitting a forged qualification certificate to draw extra pay will be upheld where the evidence clearly establishes knowledge of the forgery: disproportionality arguments do not succeed against such clear misconduct.

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

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