The devil is in detail: thus goes the idiom. The fact of the present case is that the devil of delay is in the detail of chronology—the proceedings having begun in 1984, the lis refuses to die down even after thirty years.

2. In 1984, the third respondent was charged with dereliction of duty; in 1985, a punishment of reversion was imposed; the quasi-judicial proceedings dragged on and still drag on though the third respondent retired from service in 2007. Now, the petitioner Bank, the employer, wants the matter to be remanded to the Co-operative Arbitration Court so that it could have the revision heard on “merits”.

3. As observed above, the chronology of events has its own tale to tell: On 19.09.1984, the third respondent, then working as an internal auditor, was transferred to the Evening Branch of the petitioner Bank at Thalasseri. The General Manager through a letter dated 17.10.1984, required the third respondent to prepare the outstanding list of Saving Bank Depositors as on 30.06.1984; the third respondent had to prepare the list by 31.10.1984. The petitioner could not.

4. On 16.11.1984 (in a fortnights' time) the Branch Manager called for an explanation from the thir