The petitioner, an employee of the respondent Bank, having been removed from service on an allegation of misconduct, laid challenge against the said dismissal in the present writ petition.

The facts in brief are as follows: The petitioner, when working as a Clerk/Shroff in one of the branches of the respondent bank in Chittoor District, was alleged to have committed certain irregularities, as a result of which, he was charge sheeted on 18.01.2003 by the Circle Head and Disciplinary Authority, Circle Office, Chittoor.

The core of the charge is that on 04.06.2001, an entry for Rs.10,000/- under token No.6 was made in the name of a fictitious person, and the money said to have been paid by the petitioner in the cash counter under the said token was misappropriated by himself, since the very transaction was fictitious.

Not satisfied with the explanation submitted by the petitioner to the articles of charges framed against him, the respondent bank went ahead with the departmental enquiry, which resulted in an order of removal dated 28.08.2006 passed by the disciplinary authority, the 2nd respondent. Later, though an intra-departmental appeal was filed by the petitioner, it, t