JUDGMENT :

The petitioners are the President and the Secretary respectively of Anickad Regional Farmer's Service Co-operative Bank Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'Bank' for short), a Cooperative Society registered under the provisions of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969, doing business of banking. The 1st respondent was appointed as a Peon in the Bank on 12.10.1993 under the dying-in-harness scheme. He was later promoted as Junior Clerk on 27.03.1999.

2. While working so, the 1st respondent was placed under suspension on 23.01.2006 alleging misconduct, pending enquiry. On 15.02.2006, he was served with a show cause notice to which he submitted his explanation denying the allegations. As his explanation was not satisfactory, he was served with a memo of charges on 16.03.2006 containing seven charges and the management decided to conduct a domestic enquiry. In the enquiry, the 1st respondent workman was found guilty of all charges. On the basis of the findings in the enquiry, he was dismissed from service on 15.01.2007 with retrospective effect from the date of suspension viz., 19.11.2006.

3. The 1st respondent raised an industrial dispute against his dismissal and the d