JUDGMENT

1. The petitioner filed present petitions bearing no W.P. (Crl.) 3609/2018 and W.P. (Crl.) 43/2019 for issuance of writ of certiorari and/or any other appropriate writ against the respondents to produce the entire records pertaining to Sanction Orders dated 12.10.2018 bearing no F.No.5/1/2018-Vig by which sanctions were accorded to prosecute the petitioner in the CBI Cases bearing no. RC. 1(E)/2018-CBI/BS&FC/MUMBAI arising out of FIR No. RC BSM 2018 E 0001Year 2018 and RC.2(E)/2018-CBI/BS&FC/MUMBAI arising out of FIR No. RC BSM 2018 E 0002 Year 2018 respectively and to quash Sanction Orders dated 12.10.2018 being illegal, unwarranted and based on non-application of mind.

2. The petitioner in writ petitions bearing no W.P. (Crl.) 3609/2018 and W.P. (Crl.) 43/2019 pleaded that he was appointed Executive Director in Punjab National Bank (herein after referred to as "PNB") vide notification dated 22.01.2014 bearing no F.N0.4/5/2OI2-BO-1 issued by Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India and was given additional charge as domain Executive Director of International Banking Division (IBD) with effect from 01.04.2016 vide letter 28.03.2016. A RBI circular dated 03.08.2016 was received with recommendation to get the SWIFT infrastructure comprehensively audited for malicious software script/activities and to take appropriate steps to rectify malicious activity and to patch vulnerabilities, if any, in the SWIFT IT infrastructure. It was further directed to take steps to ensure strict vigil on the transactions made through SWIFT infrastructure besides other directions. The petitioner promptly acted on circular dated 03.08.2016 and convened necessary meeting urgently which was attended by top officials from different departments including Information Technology Division (ITD), International Business Division (IBD), and Treasury Division to effectively implement the measures suggested by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Thereafter, various measures were initiated to effectively implement the recommendations of the RBI circular dated03.08.2016 and one of the key measures was to integrate SWIFT with CBS to mitigate the risk which was foreseen in manual message creation. The Information Technology (IT) Division was directed to implement the integration immediately and Information technology (IT) Division was headed by another Executive Director (ED) and Information Technology (IT) Division has never been under the domain of the petitioner during his entire tenure in PNB. The Information Technology Department (ITD) took the decision unilaterally without concurrence or information to IBD division to integrate SWIFT with CBS along with upgradation of software, namely, 'Finacle' to Version 10 X. The Information Technology Department placed a note dated 23.08.2017 to MD & CEO through their domain ED wherein it was proposed and agreed upon by MD & CEO to integrate SWIFT system with CBS during upgradation of Finacle to version 10 X. Therefore, the decision to delay implementation of suggestion of RBI was approved at the highest level in the bank which was beyond the jurisdiction of the petitioner and work profile. However, any tampering therewith could have serious ramifications including complete cessation of international banking transaction of the bank. The petitioner came to know at a very later stage about the decision to defer the implementation taken by Information Technology Department (ITD) and by then IBD was not under the domain of the petitioner with effect from 18.09.2016.The petitioner held the portfolio only for a period of 42 days after issuance of RBI's recommendations dated 03.08.2018. RBI on 27.10.2016 issued an urgent questionnaire to PNB seeking information on SWIFT system being implemented by it and about implementation of various recommendations made by RBI in its earlier circulars. Nehal Ahad, then (General Manager, IBD) sent compliance letter to RBI on 31.10.2016 but the petitioner