Is initiation of disciplinary proceedings against an employee despite acquital by criminal court, barred?
was dealing with the point in Vijayan v Syndicate Bank (2002-II-LLJ-1095).An employee of the respondent – bank was acquitted in criminal cases from charges interalia of fraudulent with drawal of nearly Rs 3 lakh from the bank. After the acquittal, the bank initiated proceedings against him. He challenged them in a writ petition which was dismissed. Hence the present appeal.The H.C. referring to CI. 19.3 and 19.4 of Ch. IX of the Bipartite Settlement observed that the power of the bank to initiate disciplinary proceedings against a delinquent employee who was acquitted by the Criminal Court was in no way diluted by Cl. 14 which was only an enabling provision. The bank could take disciplinary action even after one year of the launching of the prosecution.It is settled law that albeit on same set of facts, criminal case and disciplinary proceedings operate on different footing in on different footing in on different planes. While the purpose of the first is to punish the guilty, the secon
