Four appeals by bank dismissed

By Nirnimesh Kumar

NEW DELHI, AUG. 20.

The Delhi High Court today dismissed four appeals by the Bank of India against a Single-Judge Bench order of the court directing the public sector bank to restore services of four of its employees who had taken voluntary retirement but had later opted out on the ground of withdrawal of certain post-retirement benefits.

A Division Bench comprising Mr. Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Mr. Justice R.C. Jain said that there had been an unilateral material change in the retirement scheme after the employees opting for the scheme had signed it and that too without their consent.

``The bank cannot change the terms and conditions of the scheme arbitrarily without the employees' consent or giving them a fresh option to reconsider their decision,'' the Bench said.

The bank had filed the appeals after Mr. Justice M.K. Sharma of the high court had allowed separate writ petitions by the four employees against the bank's decision not to take them back in service when they sought to come out of the scheme and rejoin.

They had sought to withdraw from the scheme on the ground that the bank had arbitrarily made some changes in the terms and conditions affecting their interests adversely.

Counsel for the appellants, Mr. Shailender Bhardwaj, submitted that the scheme was not statutory so that the offer to retire voluntarily could be revoked under the Indian Contract Act.

He said the petitioners should have been given an opportunity to exercise their option afresh after the material alterations and changes in the terms and conditions of the scheme because these had been made after the petitioners had exercised the option and that too without taking their consent.

Having been denied the opportunity, the appellants were entitled to withdraw from the scheme, which had offered under entirely different circumstances, Mr. Bhardwaj said.

Counsel for the banks submitted that it was an one-time limited scheme, and the petitioners having once gone for it were not entitled to withdraw as the option was irrevocable.

The Single-Judge Bench rejected the bank's submission and quashed its decision to reject the applications of the employees to withdraw from the scheme.

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