HR Departments of PS Banks Take Negative Views

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HR DEPARTMENTS OF PS BANKS ALWAYS TAKE NEGATIVE STAND AND TAKE SHELTER UNDER HYPER TECHNICAL GROUNDS TO DENY ITS OFFICERS & EMPLOYEES THEIR DUE SHARE

Rajesh Goyal, Executive Consultant, AllBankingSolutions.com

Thousands of retired officers and workmen last year have been denied the 2nd pension option by PS banks inspite of the fact that on plain reading of the original Joint Note and 9th Bipartite Settlement they were eligible for the same. The interpretation sent by IBA to different banks has led to fililng of number of court cases wherein the officers and other employees who have been denied the social security are running from pillar to post. The decision of these cases will take years and in the meantime a number of such officers will be no more in this world.

On 14th November, 2011, a news time had appeared in the Hindu newspaper under the heading "Court directs bank to provide compassionate appointment to murdered manager's son".

The facts of the case are as follows:-[One of our readers who also sent the details to us has given this an appropriate heading 'Bank relieves DEAD Manager expeditiously after 5 days of his killing by dacoits' ]

"Veerarajan was serving as Manager of Sardhana branch of Syndicate Bank in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. On June 25, 2001 after closing the bank, he was returning home from work carrying a bag containing the bank's important documents and keys, including the safe room keys. Thinking that he was carrying the bank's money, some dacoits tried to snatch the bag from him. When he refused to part with it, he was shot. He was declared dead at a nursing home. He left behind his wife and three college going children. Mr.Veerarajan had applied for voluntary retirement in December 2000. The bank accepting his request for voluntary retirement on April 2, 2001, passed an order that he would be relieved from service from June 30, 2001".

“The officials of the bank under one false pretext or the other turned a deaf ear to the plea of the deceased employee's family for compassionate appointment on the pointless ground that after payment of ex-gratia to which the petitioners are legally entitled, there is nothing for the bank even to consider the request for compassionate appointment".

Now after over 10 years of fighting in the Court, the family has got a relief and the Madras High Court has directed the said bank to provide a suitable employment to the son of the manager of the bank who was shot dead in 2001. Can people who headed HR department of the Bank during last 10 years and decided to continue the court case, imagine the sufferings of the family during last decade wherein they were denied the job which could have provided them regular income? We are sure none of them will be interested to even think of this.

Some of the remarks of the High Court in its judgment are relevant and gives insight about the attitude and thinking of HR people of the public sector banks.

The counsel of the petitioners, Mr S Vaidyanathan, submitted that the bank management was mercilessly taking shelter behind ‘hyper-technicalities’ and that it had failed to show magnanimity to the bereaved family.

Justice T.Raja of High Court rejecting the plea of the Bank said "Such an imprudent and hard-hearted approach on the part of the bank, which is an instrumentality of the State, is clearly opposed to Articles 38, 39 and 41 of the Constitution,” These provisions compelled the bank to secure the petitioners, their right to adequate means of livelihood.

High Court also directed that the bank, being an instrumentality of the state, should act as a role-model employer and should not act in a manner that would depict it otherwise.

The worst part today is that such cases are now being reported quite frequently, and still HR people of the PS banks are not taking any clue and in the race to keep the CMDs / EDs / GMs happy take such hard approach merely to show that they are watching the interest of the bank. They completely forget that the job of HR department is not to harass the work force, but adopt human approach and build a team which can work for the growth of the Bank.

With my long experience in one of the leading PS bank and friends across the industry, I feel the approach of HR teams in public sector banks has consistently been negative and interpretations have always been made in such a way that it denies the employee even their due shares. The denial of 2nd pension option to so many eligible retired employees is the latest in this series. It is hoped that Courts will certainly decide in favour of the retired officials, but by then, thousands of them and their families would have suffered and some of them will be no more in this world to take benefit from the court decisions.