a) Minor penalty proceedings:-

In case of minor penalty proceeding a statement of imputation or lapses is issued to the officer informing him of the actions proposed to be taken against him and the officer is given reasonable opportunity to submit his representation he wishes to make against the proposal within a specified period. On receipt of the reply the Disciplinary Authority may exonerate the officer or may impose punishment of censure, withholding of increment/promotion, recovery of loss or reduction of basic pay of the officer for certain stages not exceeding three years without cumulative effect. Normally, holding of enquiry is not considered in case of minor penalty proceedings. However, if the Disciplinary Authority feels that enquiry is necessary to find out the truth, he may do so but in such circumstances a Regular charge sheet has to be issued for major penalty proceeding.

b) Major penalty proceedings: -

For major penalty proceedings formal charge sheet is issued which contains a memorandum, Statement of Allegations, the Articles of charge and list of documents and witness by which or by whom the charges are intended to be proved.

In case the officer admits the charges, enquiry is not held. The enquiry may be held only in respect of those charges not admitted by the charge sheeted officer or when his reply is not found satisfactory by the DA.

i) Notification of Enquiry and appointment of Enquiry Officer/Presenting Officer:-

When the reply/ written statement of defense submitted by the charged officer is found unsatisfactory or the officer denies that charges, an order is issued by the Disciplinary Authority for conducting enquiry . The DA himself may conduct the enquiry or he may appoint an Enquiry Officer(EO) to conduct the enquiry. The Presenting Officer(PO) is also appointed by the Disciplinary Authority to present the case in the enquiry to prove the charges. Similarly the charge sheeted officer himself may defend his case in the enquiry or may appoint a defense representative to defend his case. It is always to be seen that the principle of natural justice is complied with and reasonable opportunity is afforded to the charged officer to defend his case.

ii) Various stages of the enquiry:-

The Enquiry Officer informs the date, time and venue of the enquiry to all the concerned parties. The charged officer is given opportunity to inspect the documents listed in the charges. The Enquiry Officer also arranges for production of documents required by the charged officer for his defense. However the relevancy of such documents and defense witnesses are to be judged by the Enquiry Officer.
Firstly the presenting officer examines his witness for identifying the documents and obtaining their statement to substantiate the charges and allegations.The defense representative then cross examines the Management witness to refute the charges. The defense representative thereafter examines his witness for identification of defense documents and for obtaining their statements to refute the allegations/ charges. The Presenting Officer then cross-examines the defense witness. The Presenting Officer and the defense representative may re-examine their respective witnesses after cross examination by oppositions. At the end of the enquiry, the Enquiry officer may generally examine the delinquent officer. Thereafter, the Presenting Officer is asked to submit his written brief containing his arguments to prove the charges .The copy of the written brief submitted by the Presenting Officer is sent to the charge sheeted officer for defense brief to refute the charges.

iii) Findings of the Enquiry Officer:-

The enquiry officer them submits his findings to the Disciplinary Authority after critically assessing the evidences. The findings of the enquiry officer is considered by the Disciplinary Authority and is sent to the delinquent officer for his submission, if any . In this communication the Disciplinary Authority informs the charged officer the reasons of his agreement /disagreement with the findings of the Enquiry Officer. Final Order is then passed imposing penalty to charge sheeted officer for the charges proved/partially proved..

iv) Major penalties:-

The following penalties may be imposed for major penalty proceedings like reduction of Basic pay for certain stages for a specified period with/ without cumulative effect, dismissal/ removal/compulsory retirement etc. However, the Disciplinary Authority may impose any minor penalty even when major penalty proceedings have been initiated against the charged officer..

5. CVC references:-

When it is intended to initiate disciplinary proceeding against any officer in Scale III or above, involved in vigilance cases, reference to Central Vigilance Commission through the Chief Vigilance Officer is necessary in two stages. In the first stage the CVC advice is sought as to nature of penalty proceeding i.e minor or major. In the second stage after conclusion of the enquiry, the CVC's advice is sought on the punishment proposed to be imposed by the Disciplinary Authority . The role of CVC, however, is Advisory only and not mandatory on Bank Authorities.

6. Appeal:-

The officer may prefer an appeal against the order of the Disciplinary Authority within 45 days from the date of the receipt of the order. The appeal is to be addressed to the Appellate Authority but is to be submitted to the Disciplinary Authority. The Appellate Authority may even enhance the penalty after issuing a show cause notice and giving personal hearing to the charged officer.

7. Review:-

The order of the Disciplinary Authority or Appellate Authority is Reviewed by the Reviewing Authority within 6 months either suo motto or by a Review Petition in case any new material / evidence is emerged, which was not considered earlier.

8. Suspension:-

In respect of suspension, the Competent Authority may place an Officer under suspension where a disciplinary proceeding against him is contemplated/ pending or when a criminal proceedings against the officer is pending / under trial. An officer shall be deemed to have been placed under suspension when he is remanded to the custody for more than 48 hours. During suspension the officer will be entitled for subsistence allowance on the basis of 1/3 or 1/2 of the basic pay he was drawing prior to suspension.

9. General:-

Since the Disciplinary rules are complicated and is often used as an vindictive action of the Management it is advisable that the officer on receipt of show cause / letter of explanation / charge sheet / letter of imputation, should immediately contact the Association for a suitable reply and for engaging a suitable defense representative to fight against unfair action of the Management.