- (1.) ADUMBRATED in brief, the relevant facts giving rise to this Letters Patent Appeal are, Hardwari Lal was serving as a Manager of the Branch of State Bank of Patiala at Bareta It was claimed that on May 8, 1982 when a seminar was being held at Mansa. R. C. Kampani. Regional Manager III (P) of the State Bank of Patiala (hereinafter referred to as the Bank) rebuked, snubbed and harangued the appellant (hereinafter called the petitioner, who was also one of the participants, in presence of so many people. R. C. Kampani's conduct resulted in a great mental stress on the petitioner who under the resultant depression, submitted his resignation on May 11, 1982 and forwarded the same to the Regional Manager III (P) of the Bank with a further request that the condition of giving three months notice or depositing three months salary in lieu thereof, may be waived. Later on the advice of friends and well-wishers and in view of the family circumstances, he withdrew his resignation and sent a telegram to that effect on May 17, 1982 to the Regional Manager III (P) of the Bank, on the same day i. e. on May 17, 1982, the petitioner sent a letter confirming the telegram withdrawing his resignation. He continued working as Manager of the Bareta Branch of the Bank till May 22, 1982 when he received intimation through a letter, dated May 18, 1982 that the condition of three months notice period or salary in lieu thereof had been waived off and his resignation had been accepted on May 14, 1982. A copy of the letter is attached as Annexure P-4 to the Writ Petition.
(2.) THE facts are not in dispute except the incident regarding the rebuking, snubbing and insulting the petitioner by R. C. Kampani and existence of the alleged compulsion for submitting the resignation. It was averred on behalf of the respondents that resignation letter, dated May 11, 1982 with a forwarding letter was received in the Head Office on May 12, 1982. It was on the request of the petitioner for immediate action in the matter, that the matter was immediately dealt with and put up before the General Manager on May 14, 1982 as the Managing Director was on leave from May 11, 1982 to May 15, 1982. The General Menager (Operation) after applying his mind and taking into consideration all the aspects of the case, ordered the acceptance of the resignation of the petitioner on May 14, 1982. A copy of the order has been annexed as Annexure R-1/a, the operative part of which reads as under : "in the instant case, the officer has requested for waiving of/reducing the notice period and acceptance of resignation with immediate effect. In view of the ill health of the officer, his own request for waiving of the notice is accepted and the notice period is waived of, as a special case, it is, however, clarified that this may not be treated as a precedent for similar other cases in future. The relieving arrangements in place of the officer concerned should be made forthwith. He should be relieved of his charge. The satisfaction about 'to dues' may be made before payment of his retiral benefits/dues. " The order was conveyed to the petitioner vide Memo, dated May 18, 1982, Copy Anrexure Rule 2. The petitioner was relieved on June 9, 1982 because in the meantime he proceeded o (sic) leave from May 24, 1982 to June 8, 1982. The respondents claimed that the Regional Manager III (P) while accepting the resignation of the petitioner, exercised the powers of Managing Director, as he was authorised to do so by the Managing Director vide Office Older No. 6, dated May 11, 1982, which reads as under :- "state BANK OF PATIALA No. PAM M. D. Septt. Dated 11th May, 1982 Baisakh, 21, 1984 Saka, OFFICE ORDER NO. 6 As I shall remain on leave for 3-4 days from the 11th May, 1982 due to indisposed health, Shri L. D. Khanna General Manager (Operations) and Shri N. G. Sardana, General Manager (Plg. and Dev.) will exercise, within their respective spheres, (he financial and administrative powers of the Managing Director till I resume duty. Sd/-MANAGING DIRECTOR "
(3.) LATER, i. e. on May 28, 1982, the above office Order was approved by the Executive Committee of the Bank. It was claimed that the withdrawal letter dated May 17, 1982 with the Office Notings of Assistant General Manager and General Managers was put up before the Managing Director on August 7, 1982. who observed that since the officer had already taken recourse to the Court of law, it did not call for any further action, his resignation having already been accepted on May 14, 1982 and the notice period had been waived. The Manging Director further observed that there was nothing in the letter of resignation of letter of withdrawal or the forwarding letter to show that the resignation was not voluntarily or on his own volition and that the allegations were after thought.;