The court clarified the meaning of 'misconduct' and upheld the orders of punishment against the petitioner.

TIRATH S. THAKUR, J.

( 1 ) IN this Writ Petition the petitioner calls in question the order of his compulsory retirement from the service of the Respondent- Bank consequent upon the conduct of two Disciplinary enquiries in which he was found guilty of the charges framed against him. He also assails order dated 27th January, 1983 passed by the Appellate Authority dismissing the appeal against the punishment imposed upon him. A few facts need be stated at this stage.

( 2 ) PETITIONER was posted as Manager of the Respondent-Bank's Virajpet Branch. He was served with a charge-sheet dated 1. 6. 1981 accusing him of different acts of omission and commission set out in the statement of imputations of misconduct accompanying the same. Briefly stated the charges framed were as under :i) that he had drawn from the Sundries Receivable Account, advance D. A. without adjustment or proper submission of Bills, in the process committing temporary mis-appropriation of the amount drawn ii) That he had without powers or in excess thereof granted temporary over-draft facilities in about 64 accounts which was far in excess of the limits fixed for his branch; iii) That he had without powers purchased, self drawn cheques and S. B. pay orders on other branches situated around 18 kilometres from his Branch and had taken no steps for recovery of the amounts detailed in the statement of imputations; iv) That he had committed other acts of misconduct such as preparation of debit vouchers without any instrument cheque therefor, grant of O. C. C. facility to Sri M. E. Hassan, in excess of his powers and grant of hypothecation loans, without obtaining securities for the same.

( 3 ) THE petitioner submitted a reply to the charges whereafter a formal enquiry was conducted into the same by an Enquiry Officer appointed for the purpose. The report submitted by the enquiry Officer held the petitioner guilty and the charges proved against him.

( 4 ) IN the meantime, another charge-sheet dated 2nd of July, 1981 was also issued to the petitioner framing a few more charges against him which were also subjected to an enquiry resulting in a finding adverse to the petitioner in the same. Based upon the two Enquiry Reports mentioned above, the Disciplinary Authority by his order dated 17th August, 1982 imposed upon the petitioner a major penalty of compulsory retirement from service with immediate effect.

( 5 ) AGGRIEVED the petitioner filed an Appeal before the General Manager-the Appellate Authority, who rejected the same. A Review Petition filed by the petitioner against the aforesaid two orders, also met the same fate and was dismissed.

( 6 ) DISSATISFIED with the orders aforesaid, the petitioner has filed the present Writ Petition for a writ of Certiorari quashing the said orders and for such directions as this Court may deem fit and proper.

( 7 ) APPEARING for the petitioner Mr. Vijayashankar, Senior Advocate and Sri Rajgopal argued that the impugned orders of punishment were unsustainable as the charges levelled against the petitioner even if treated to have been proved could not amount to misconduct within the meaning of Regulation 24 of the Conduct and Discipline Regulations of the Bank. It was urged that Regulation-3 of the aforesaid Regulations for the violation whereof the petitioner has been found guilty and punished, was a general provision which did not enumerate the acts of omission and commission alleged against the petitioner as tantamounting to commission of misconduct by an Employee-Officer of the Bank. In the absence of such an enumeration, contended the learned counsel an employee-Officer could not be accused or held guilty, of the misconduct and punished on that account. Reliance was placed by them upon the Judgments of the Supreme court in GLAXO LABORATORIES (I) LTD. v. PRESIDING OFFICER, LABOUR COURT, meerut AND ORS AIR1984 SC 505 , (1984 )I LLJ16 SC , (1984 )1 scc1 , [1984 ]1 SCR230 , 1984 (1 )SLJ229 (SC ). and in A. L. KALRA v. THE PROJE

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