B. S. A. SWAMY, J.

( 1 ) IN this writ petition two issues of legal importance arise for consideration of this Court, they are :1. Whether an officer working in a particular zone nominated as a disciplinary authority by the Chief executive Officer in exercise of his powers under Para 19. 14 of the bipartite Settlement (for short settlement ) entered into between the management and the workmen is empowered to dismiss an award staff working in another zone of the respondent bank. 2. Whether the order of dismissal passed by the 3rd Respondent suffers from the vice of non-observation of substantive rules and is liable to be set aside.

( 2 ) THE petitioner was appointed as a cashier-cum-clerk by the respondent bank in its proceedings DP:rec/6224, dated 11th April, 1985 on compassionate grounds consequent upon the death of his father in harness while working as Manager of khammam Branch. The Deputy Manager (Industrial Relations), Central Office in his proceedings No. CO:ird:as:vig:201/92, dated 2nd June, 1992, issued chargesheet wherein four charges have been framed. Again under each of the charges several sub- charges were also framed by stating that while the petitioner was working as Cashier- cum-clerk in the branch of Poranki, which is under the administrative control of Vijayawada regional Office, he has not only indulged in acts prejudicial to the interests of the bank, but also neglected the work and the rules of business of the bank and instructions were also not followed in discharge of his duties.

( 3 ) THE preamble of the charge sheet is as hereunder:"shri Ahmed is in the habit of borrowing funds from the customers of the Branch. Further as he was unable to repay the same within the promised period he deliberately resorted to act of making fictitious entries in the ledger/pass books to make them believe that he has promptly met with his obligations of repayment of their loan. To ensure the balancing of ledger Shri Ahmed made various fake entries in various other accounts of the same ledger. The accountwise details of the misconducts committed by Shri Ahmed are given here-in-below. "

( 4 ) THE crux of the allegations in the charge sheet is that the petitioner was borrowing funds from the customers of the branch and being unable to repay the same resorted to make fictitious entries in the ledgers/pass books to make them believe that their amounts were credited to their accounts. In furtherance of his acts he made various fake entries in various other accounts in the ledger. In the penultimate para of the charge sheet it is stated that Sri Naidu, S. N. , Deputy manager, Inquiry Cell, Regional Office at hyderabad, will be holding an inquiry into the charge levelled against him and the date, time and place of inquiry will be intimated to him directly by the Inquiry Officer in due course. If the petitioner desires to submit any explanation in the matter he may do so directly to the Inquiry Officer, under intimation to the undersigned.

( 5 ) IT is not in dispute that except the charge sheet, no other supporting material or the list of witnesses to be examined on behalf of the management to prove the allegations were furnished to the petitioner.

( 6 ) BY proceedings No. CO:ird:as:vig: 201:3743/92, dated 4-6-1992, the same officer issued another proceedings which is extracted hereunder:

( 21 ) ADMITTEDLY, in the instant case, the petitioner is working in Poranki Branch under the administrative control of Regional office at Vijayawada, which is the Unit of appointment. Where as the 3rd Respondent who passed the impugned proceedings is working as Deputy Manager (Personnel) in enquiry Cell, Regional Office, Hyderabad. By virtue of the superior position held by him over and above the Assistant Superintendent in Hyderabad Zonal Office, he may be treated as a disciplinary authority for that zone, but not to another zone. Any other view taken i. e. , a disciplinary authority nominated for the employees working in Branch Office in a particu

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