Patna High Court has ordered the State Bank of India (SBI) to reinstate an officer whose service the bank treated as voluntarily resigned after he remained absent on medical grounds. The officer’s sick leave for July 2019 had been approved through the bank’s online HRMS portal by the manager at his previous branch. SBI later rejected the leave, saying the manager was no longer authorised to approve it after the officer’s transfer.
The court found that the bank should have sent the leave application to the appropriate authority for consideration instead of simply rejecting it. It also noted that the officer’s medical documents had not been proved false. Justice Harish Kumar quashed the bank’s orders and directed it to reinstate Pankaj Kumar Singh with continuity of service. However, he will not receive salary for the period he did not work.
