The Supreme Court of India has reinstated the termination of a senior bank manager with an accent that top jobs are accompanied with more responsibility, accountability, and integrity. The decision reversed an earlier decision by the Delhi High Court that had softened the sentence to compulsory retirement.
In the case, there were very serious accusations against the senior manager who colluded with a bank officer and a gunman to embezzle customer funds and manipulate official books to his own advantage. The disciplinary authority had first of all subjected a severe penalty of the termination of service, taking into consideration the seriousness of the allegations and the length of the position.
The penalty however was altered by the Delhi High Court that pointed out that the co-accused used were the officer and the gunman who had been sentenced to relatively lighter penalties despite the fact that the two faced similar charges. As the gunman received mandatory retirement, the officer received a demotion.
Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, who made up a bench, disagreed with the reasoning of the Supreme Court, saying that the comparison made between the duties of a branch manager and a gunman was contrary to logic and reason. The court noted that the senior manager, through his post, was given greater degrees of trust and financial control and therefore the misconduct was more critical.
The highest court ruled that the disparity in the punishments was warranted by the hierarchy and duties of each position and reinstated that accountability should be matched to the authority in the institutions.