JUDGMENT :

SANJAY KISHAN KAUL, J.

1. The appellant-Bank, a nationalised one, took the ultimate step against the respondent as an employee in pursuance of departmental proceedings having found him guilty on various counts inter-alia including breach of duty as a custodian of public money and dishonesty, fraud or manipulation of documents. The Industrial Tribunal ultimately upheld the decision of the appellant-Bank but in terms of the impugned judgment of the Allahabad High Court, five of the charges were found not proved while qua two of the charges the matter was remitted back to the Industrial Tribunal with a limited mandate.

2. The said decision was, however, stayed by this Court on 5.3.2019.

The facts:

3. The respondent was employed with the appellant-Bank as a clerk-cum-cashier w.e.f. 14.9.1981. The appellant-Bank received a complaint dated 8.10.1994 from the sister-in-law of the respondent, Smt. Meera Srivastava, that the respondent had opened and operated a Savings Account No. 7882 in the joint name of the respondent and his sister-in-law by forging her signatures and encashed a demand draft of Rs. 20,000/- which was issued to her by way of interim relief by Kalyan Nigam Limited