A bank employee who opens an account without proper introduction and allows withdrawals from a newly opened account without following the bank's norms and procedures is guilty of gross negligence and misconduct.

( 1 ) THE petitioner at the material point of time was the Manager of the salkia Branch of the respondent (hereinafter referred to as the Bank ). The petitioner has alleged that on 19th September, 1997, a member of the subordinate Staff of the said branch of the Bank brought one person claiming to be one Ajay Kumar Mohanty along with an Account Opening Form. The said Ajay Kumar Mohanty described himself as the proprietor of Polycab indsutries of Howrah and expressed his desire to open a Current Account in the said branch,

( 2 ) AFTER checking the Account Opening Form and the enclosures thereto which was accompanied by a copy of the challan for professional tax of the said person bearing the endorsement of payment of such tax, the petitioner alleged to have instructed the said sub-staff to take the said person to the dealing official for the actual opening of the account. It is the case of the petitioner that the said Ajay Kumar Mohanty assured that his introducer would arrive shortly and would carry out the necessary formalities.

( 3 ) THE said account was thereafter opened by another official of the bank after the opening of the Account Cheque Book was also issued to the said person. Subsequent thereto a cheque dated August 22, 1997, for a sum of Rs, 12,77,081/- was deposited on 28th of September, 1997. The said cheque was issued by Indian Oil Corporation favouring M/s. Polycab industries and drawn on State Bank of India, Dhakuria Branch.

( 4 ) THE said cheque was cleared in usual course of business. Thereafter, the said Ajay Kumar Mohanty between 23rd of September, 1997 and 30th of November, 1997, withdrew almost the entire amount. Thereafter, it transpires that M/s. Polycab Industries have alleged that the account which was opened in the name of Polycab Industries by Ajay Kumar Mohanty in the said branch of the bank was a fictitious account and the money has been fraudulently withdrawn by the said Ajay Kumar Mohanty who was not the proprietor and had no connection with M/s. Polycab Industries. Thereafter Polycab Industries has filed a suit inter alia against the Bank claiming a money decree.

( 5 ) ON the back drop of the aforesaid facts, the Bank issued a charge- sheet on 9th December, 1998, inter alia, alleging that the petitioner with dishonest intentions have aided and abetted the said Ajay Kumar Mohanty who falsely claimed to the proprietor of M/s. Polycab Industries in opening of the current account without any introduction with scant regard to the bank's instructions and guidelines and thereby facilitating the said Ajay kumar Mohanty to deposite the allegedly stolen cheque for rs. 12,77,081/- in the said account.

( 6 ) THE petitioner was also charged of aiding and abetting in allowing the said Ajay Kumar Mohanty to withdraw almost the entire amount within 2/3 days from the, said newly opened account in violation of bank's norms/ guidelines in case of newly opened accounts and that the petitioner went to the extent of permitting payment of a cheque of Rs. 3,80,000/- on 24th september, 1997, in spite of department officials objections and thereby facilitated the said Ajay Kumar Mohanty to defraud the bank for the amount deposited in the account which ultimately resulted in huge financial loss to the bank,

( 7 ) ACCORDINGLY, the writ petitioner was charged of having committed breach of Regulation 3 (1) of the Bank of India Officer Employees' (Discipline and Appeal) Regulation, 1976 read with Regulation 24 of the said regulations. For the sake of conveyance the Regulations are set aside as hereunder: regulation 3 (1): "every officer employee shall, at all times take all possible steps to ensure and protect the interests of the Bank and discharge his duties with utmost integrity, honesty, devotion and diligence and do nothing which is unbecoming of a Bank Officer. " regulation 24 : "a breach of any of the provisions of these regulations shall be deemed to constitute a misconduct punishable under the Ban