AR.LAKSHMANAN, C.J. - (1.) Punjab National Bank, New Delhi and two others are the appellants in this Special Appeal. This Special Appeal was filed by the Bank against the judgment passed by the learned single Judge on February 16, 2000 in S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 824/1992,quashing the punishment orders and granting of consequential benefits to the respondent herein, petitioner in the Writ Petition.
(2.) The writ petition was filed to quash the order dated September 26, 1990 (Annexure 13), of the disciplinary authority and that the order dated November 11, 1991 (Annexure 17), passed by the appellate authority imposing punishment of removal of the respondent herein from service and other consequential reliefs.
(3.) According to the respondent, he belongs to Rawal community, which is a Scheduled caste and that the said community follows Nath sect. He made an application to the Executive Magistrate (Tehsildar), Pali, the authority competent to grant certificate certifying that the respondent belongs to Scheduled caste. The Executive Magistrate issued a certificate dated July 6, 1976 (Annexure 1). The Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Auwa, Tehsil Kharchi issued a certificate that the respondent is Rawal by caste and belongs to a Scheduled Caste. Punjab National Bank invited applications for the post of Clerks. The respondent applied for the said post and attached a copy of the certificate. He was appointed as Clerk on August 4, 1977 after being subjected to selection (Annexure 3). He was then promoted to Officers cadre w.e.f. May 27, 1985 and since then he was working as Officer (Accountant) till his removal from service. A preliminary enquiry was initiated on the basis of some anonymous complaint to ascertain the caste of the respondent and in this process, the respondent was called upon to furnish proof about his caste. The respondent submitted the following documents in his support that he is by caste Rawal: "(i) Caste Certificate of the petitioner sowhing that he is Rawal. (ii) Caste Certificate of Shri Augad Rawal, son of Shri Lakha Rawal to whom, the petitioner went in adoption in 1958 showing that he was Rawal by caste. (iii) Caste Certificate of Shri Pukha Rawal son of Shri Nena Rawal who is father-in-law of the petitioner showing that he is Rawal by caste. (iv) Verified copy of adoption deed by Shri Om Prakash Soni, Advocate, Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur". The respondent has also produced copies of the caste certificate, the adoption deed duly verified and the caste certificate of Pukha Rawal and those documents are marked as Annexures-4 to 6 respectively. ;