JUDGMENT :

M.S.RAMESH, C.KUMARAPPAN, JJ.

Prayer: Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, praying to set aside the order dated 09.02.2023 in WP.No.2022 of 2015.

For the sake of convenience, the appellant herein is referred to as 'the Bank', the first respondent as 'the Tribunal' and the second respondent as 'the employee'.

2. The employee, who joined the services of the Bank in the year 1961, had remained unauthorizedly absent from 21.11.1995 onwards. Quoting health reasons, the employee had submitted an application for voluntary retirement on 28.11.1995 under Clause 29 of the Union Bank of India (Employees') Pension Regulations, 1995 (hereinafter referred to as 'Pension Regulations'). On 13.09.1996, the Bank claims to have communicated to the employee that his request for voluntary retirement cannot be considered and had called upon him to report for work. Thereafter, the Bank had claimed that the employee had abandoned his service, since he had not reported for work continuously, which prompted him to raise an Industrial Dispute in I.D.No.37 of 2013, before the Central Government Industrial Tribunal cum Labour Court, Chennai. ('the Tribunal'). By an Award dated 12.0