JUDGMENT :

(Aniruddha P. Mayee, J.)

1. The present Letters Patent Appeals impugn common judgment and order dated 06.10.2021 and 18.01.2023 passed by the learned Single Judge in Special Civil Application No.14601 of 2011 and Special Civil Application No.6960 of 2012, whereby the learned Single Judge has dismissed Special Civil Application No.6960 of 2012 and partly allowed Special Civil Application No.14601 of 2011 by increasing the penalty imposed.

1.1 Letters Patent Appeals Nos.850 of 2023 and 855 of 2023 have been preferred by the delinquent employee and Letters Patent Appeals No.851 of 2023 and Letters Patent Appeal No.1424 of 2023 have been preferred by the Bank Management. For the sake of brevity, the parties to the present litigation are being referred to as ‘delinquent employee’ and ‘Bank Management’ as per the cause- title of Letters Patent Appeal No.850 of 2023, which is the lead matter.

2. The brief facts leading to filing of the present Letters Patent Appeals as under:-

2.1 That the delinquent employee was working as Head Cashier in the State Bank of Saurashtra, Agricultural Development Branch (A.D.B.), Amreli at the time of incident in the year 1986. That, it is alleged th