- (1.) THIS petition for writ is directed against the order dated 20.2.2004 passed by the General manager (Operation I), UCO Bank, Kolkata, rejecting an appeal preferred by the petitioner giving challenge to the order dated 20.3.2001 passed by the disciplinary authority i.e. the Regional Manager, UCO Bank, Jodhpur in respect of charge sheet dated 1.8.2000. By the order dated 20.3.2001 the disciplinary authority while holding the petitioner guilty for charge No.1 imposed a penalty of censure.
(2.) BRIEFLY stated, facts of the case are that the petitioner while working as clerk at Jodhpur Main Branch of UCO Bank committed certain acts of omission and commission for which a charge sheet dated 1.8.2000 was issued to him. The allegations against him include inter alia the following : "1. On 6.4.98, he had introduced the account no.19949/62 of Mr. Sumer Singh of Village Dharamdhani, Distt. Pali, without carefully verifying the whereabouts of the account holder personally. 2. On 27.8.98, while working in the cash department he prepared a fake clearing voucher for credit entry in Savings Bank account no.18784 of Mrs. Sumitra Jain for Rs.2.00 lacs. To make corresponding debit against the fake credit entry he had altered the date from 24.8.98 to 27.8.98 on account of draft bearing no.47/093120 dt.17.8.98 issued by our Aalamganj branch for Rs.2.00 lacs, which was earlier paid on 24.8.98 to Andhra Bank through clearing. 3. On 17.9.98, a fake voucher had been prepared to create entry for Rs.2.00 lacs in the account of Mr. Sumer Singh. To make corresponding debit a voucher was prepared for debiting the SB a/c University of Jodhpur (Sundries A/C.). This SB ledger was overwritten and shown debit entry of Rs.676245/ instead of correct amount i.e. Rs.476245/ on the date on folio no.58 and same effect was also done in the SB supplementary Book dated 17.9.98. 4. On 17.9.98, he had also given introduction to account holder Smt. Sarda Devi and Hazara Singh Rajpurohit without carefully verifying the whereabouts of the a/c holder personally and managed to open their SB a/c 20091/63 in the branch to get their confidence for his ulterior motive. 5. On 14.9.98, Shri Hazara Singh had given him withdrawal form alongwith pass book with a request to make the payment in cash amounting to Rs.10000/ , but he filled the withdrawal as Rs.18000/ instead of Rs.10000/ and made the payment of Rs.10,000/ and balance amount he kept with him. Shri Hazara Singh approached him for passbook but he managed to issue a duplicate passbook. While observing the passbook, Shri Hazara Singh found that he has never drawn the amount of Rs.18000/ . On asking from him, Shri Sumnesh Vyas paid the amount on different dates. 6. By introducing a/c no.19949/62 and 20091/63 in the name of Shri Sumer Singh and joint account of Mrs. Sarda Devi and Shri Hazara Singh Rajpurohit respectively, he had gained confidence from the above a/c holders and opted the route for the fraudulent transactions of Rs.2.00 lacs through SB a/c no.19949/62 of Shri Sumer Singh and destroyed all the relative vouchers/records from the bank."
(3.) ON basis of the above allegations the petitioner was charged for doing the act prejudicial to the interest of the bank.;