IMPORTANT POINTS
Bank is obliged to discharge an employee on conviction, notwithstanding release on probation, if on moral turpitude.
Courts do not have the power to pass a direction that the said conviction will not have any impact on the convict’s services.
Every case of assault is not moral turpitude.

JUDGMENT :

L. NAGESWARA RAO, J.

1. The Respondent who was working as a Messenger in the State Bank of India at Puducherry was discharged from service by an order dated 15.05.1986. The appeal filed by the Respondent against the order of discharge was dismissed on 03.07.1986. Later, the Staff Union took up the cause of the Respondent and made a representation on his behalf which was also rejected on 04.05.1992. Challenging the aforementioned orders, the Respondent filed a Writ Petition in the High Court of Judicature at Madras which was dismissed by a learned Single Judge on 07.06.2000. Aggrieved thereby, the Respondent filed a Writ Appeal which was allowed by the Division Bench of the Madras High Court. The order of discharge of the Respondent from service was set aside and the Appellants were directed to reinstate the Respondent. The Appellants were directed to pay 1/4th of the salary from the date of discharge till the date of rein mkstatement as back wages. Notice was issued by this Court in Special Leave Petition filed by the Appellants on 01.09.2009 and the judgment of the High Court was stayed. Thereafter, leave was granted on 19.10.2009 and the interim order was made absolute. We are informed that the Respondent has attained the age of superannuation on 31.12.2012.

2. Since the discharge of the Respondent from service is on the basis of conviction for an offence involving moral turpitude, it is necessary to refer to the facts of the criminal case. A report was submitted by the Station House Officer (SHO), Grand Bazaar Police Station, Puducherry that on 17.06.1983 at 9.00 hours the Respondent voluntarily stabbed Karthiban s/o Dharamssivam and Sivagurunathan s/o Brame Dhanabal with a broken soda bottle. On completion of investigation, charge sheet was filed against the Respondent. Thereafter, charge was framed under Section 307 IPC. After appreciation of the evidence on-record, the trial court found that the Respondent had no intention to cause murder of the victims who were examined as PWs-1 and 2. The injuries were certified as simple by PW-5. The trial court was of the opinion that there was no material to convict the Respondent under Section 307 IPC. However, the trial court convicted the Respondent under Section 324 IPC and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for three months. The motive for the crime was an earlier dispute between two groups belonging to different political parties. The conviction was affirmed by the Appellate Court. The Appellate Court released the Respondent on probation as it was of the opinion that the Respondent was a fit person to be dealt with under Section 360 CrPC. One of the reasons given by the Appellate Court to release the Respondent on probation was that the Respondent was employed as a Messenger in a Bank and any sentence of imprisonment would affect his career.

3. As stated earlier, discharge of the Respondent from service was on the ground of his conviction by a criminal court for an offence involving moral turpitude.

4. Section 10(1)(b)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 provides that conviction by a criminal court of an offence involving moral turpitude shall disentitle a person from continuing in employment of a banking company. The Writ Appeal filed by the Respondent was allowed by a Division Bench of the High Court on the ground that the criminal court released the Respondent under probation in exercise of its power under Section 360 CrPC to enable the Respondent to continue in service. The High Court was of the opinion that the purpose of the order of the criminal court would be defeated if the Respondent is discharged from service. Another reason given by the High Court is that the provision of law under which the bank discharged the Respondent from service was not mentioned and no reasons were assigned by the bank in the order of discharge.

5. We do not agree with the reasons given by the High Court for setting aside the order of discharge and directing the reinstatement of t