D.P.BUCH, J. - (1.) The present petition has been filed by the petitioner above- named, under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India, for appropriate writ, order or direction for quashing and setting aside the order passed by the second respondent on 19-1-1990 and confirmed by the Appellate Authority, by order dated 21-6-1990 and also confirmed by the Review Authority by order dated 10-7-1991 at Annexures 'E', 'F' and 'G' to the petition respectively.
(2.) The facts of the case may be briefly stated as follows : The present petitioner was appointed in the employment of Dena Bank. He was also promoted to the Cadre of Officer and by order dated 24-8-1987, he was appointed as Branch Manager in Mota Pondha Branch in Valsad region. It seems that he actually joined the said Branch, but his predecessor-in-office was allowed to work there for some time. Therefore, the petitioner actually commenced the work as Manager of the said Branch on 13-10-1987. As per the case of the department against him, some applications were received on the previous day of his effectively resuming as the Manager of the Branch for extending loans for the purchase of buffaloes. It seems that it was the policy of the Dena Bank at the relevant point of time to advance loans to the persons proposing to purchase buffaloes. Accordingly, an amount of Rs. 3,000/- was permissible as loan for each buffalo and one single candidate could get loan upto Rs. 30,000/- in all for the purchase of 10 buffaloes.
(3.) Now as per the case of the respondents, 15 such applications were pending, which were received on 12-10-1987 when the petitioner resumed as effective Branch Manager of the said Branch on 13-10-1987. He sanctioned loans to those 15 persons, each getting Rs. 30,000/- for the purchase of buffaloes as aforesaid. The respondents have contended that the petitioner did not follow any rule or regulation or guidelines for advancing loans to those persons and as such the loan was sanctioned without any procedure being followed. Therefore, a charge- sheet was issued to the petitioner on 11-3-1988 a copy whereof, has been annexed at Annexure 'A', page 12 to the petition. It would be worthwhile to refer to the charges levelled against the petitioner in the said charge-sheet at Annexure 'A' to the petition dated 11-3-1988. The same are reproduced for ready reference as follows : "1. That on 13th October, 1987, i.e. on the very next day after your taking over the charge of Branch Manager, Mota Pondha, you disbursed the loan of Rs. 30,000/- each to 15 borrowers (whose identity could not be established by you) for purchase of 10 buffaloes by each of the said borrowers, whose loan applications were received by you on 12th October, 1987. The names of the said borrowers, their addresses as furnished to the Bank and amount of loan sanctioned are given in Annexure - I. 2. While sanctioning and disbursing the said loans, you have violated our Bank's norms and also not followed the rules procedure normally ought to have been followed in similar circumstances, some of such violations have been illustrated below : (a) The address/residential status and other details mentioned in applications of the said 15 borrowers have not been vouched/verified by you from local panchayat or during spot verification visit etc. before entertaining all 15 loan applications for sanction and disbursement, though you have stated to have done so. (b) On the said 15 loan applications, neither any of the applications bears attestation about thumb impression of applicants nor carries photographs of concerned borrowers duly certified by you although all of them are stated to be illiterate. (c) You did not take assistance of R.S.C. officials or Regional Authority for scrutinizing the 15 loan applications. (d) Similarly you also did not verify whether the persons named Jora Mavji Rabari exists or resides at given address and whether he is capable to supply 150 buffaloes to the said 15 borrowers. Later on, it was also found that the said supplier is also fictitious. (e) The animal health certificates dated 4-10-1987 and 11-10-1987 issued by Dr. H. P. Patel of Vapi is for 99 buffaloes only. Required certificate for remaining buffaloes is not taken by you. (f) The said 150 buffaloes claimed to have been purchased by the said 15 borrowers were never available at the given addresses for spot inspection. (g) No margin money has been collected from the said 15 borrowers before disbursement of said loan on 13-10-1987. Instead of directly collecting margin money from the said borrowers, the margin money amounting to Rs. 1.50 lacs for said 15 borrowers is adjusted out of withdrawal on 13-10-1987 of Rs. 4.70 lacs by seller named Shri Jora Mavji Rabari from his S. B. A/c. No. 2208 wherein the disbursement amount of Rs. 6.00 lacs of said loan was credited on the same day. (h) In such commercial dairy advances, two independent guarantors are required to be taken for each borrower. In these cases, no such guarantors are taken. 3. The S.B. A/c. No. 2208 is opened on 13-10-1987 in the fictitious name of Shri Jora Mavji Rabari without introduction.;