J & K Bank Ltd.& Ors vs Neelam Rani

The J & K Bank Ltd. & Ors. ...Appellants

VERSUS

Smt. Neelam Rani ...Respondent

JUDGMENT

TARUN CHATTERJEE, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. In our view, this appeal can be disposed of on a very short

point.

3. This appeal is directed against a Judgment and decree

passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at

Chandigarh in Regular Second Appeal No. 1111 of 2005 by

which, the second appeal filed by the appellant was

dismissed and the decree passed in favour of the

respondent was affirmed.

4. A perusal of the Judgment of the High Court passed in

second appeal would show that the question that was

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raised before the High Court was negated by it by passing

the order in the following manner:-

"I have gone through the judgments of the Courts below. There are concurrent findings and the points now been raised had been dealt with by the Courts below."

5. The question that was needed to be decided by the High

Court was whether the courts below could have interfered with

the order of voluntary retirement passed by the appellant

against the respondent in accordance with Rule 265-A of the J

& K Bank Officers Service Rules, 1987 which does not require

the holding of enquiry as a pre-requisite and whether a suit for

specific performance of a contract for enforcing personal

contract of service against the appellant for alleged breach of

rules framed by the appellant as a non statutory company was

maintainable in law.

6. In our view, the High Court was not justified in

dismissing the second appeal in the manner it had dismissed.

While considering the second appeal, the High Court ought to

have considered the questions raised before it, as indicated

herein earlier, and thereafter by formulating or framing the

aforesaid questions as substantial questions of law by a

speaking and reasoned order.

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7. Such being the position, we set aside the judgment of

the High Court and remit the case back to it for disposal of the

second appeal in accordance with law after formulating the

substantial questions of law and after passing a reasoned and

a speaking order in accordance with law.

8. The impugned judgment is, therefore, set aside and this

appeal is allowed to the extent indicated above. The High

Court is requested to dispose of the second appeal in

accordance with law in the light of the observations made

hereinabove within a period of six months from the date of

supply of a copy of this order. There will be no order as to

costs.

..............................J. [TARUN CHATTERJEE]

..............................J. [AFTAB ALAM] NEW DELHI

September 02, 2008.

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