PNB Got Success IN Suspension Of Guilty Officers

It is a matter of great pleasure that ultimately the efforts of Mr. T K Vera and under his leadership , the efforts of the trade union have got success in getting the desired outcome of joint fight against reign of torture prevalent in Punjab National bank.

 There is no doubt that the similar reign of torture and high handedness of top officials has been continuing since long in all public sector banks . But the officer class has been tolerating all these inhumane behaviour of top officials because their leaders are working in nexus with top officials. 

Now at least leaders of other banks will also come forward to save bank staff from misrule of bank management. -Danendra Jain

Banker suicide: Accused senior PNB officers suspended-Hindustan Times

Six days after they were booked for having abetted the suicide of their junior colleague, Punjab National Bank suspended field general manager J K Gupta and circle head AK Gupta from services.

Alleging humiliation by JK Gupta And AK Gupta, Ajay Sehgal, chief manager of the bank’s branch in Sector 20, Panchkula, had killed himself by jumping in front of a train on Wednesday. The suicide note he left behind named both the officials, following which they were booked under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.

Secretary of the All India PNB Bank officers Association, Rajendra Walia, said, “We are happy with the decision but want compensation for the family. Since a special investigation team has been formed in this case, we want a speedy and fair probe.”

Link HIndustan Times

I am submitting hereunder the excellent presentation of entire story by Sri Rajesh Goyal along with the submission of praiseworthy leader Mr. T. K. Verma . In the past I have already presented entire story in my blog. 

Unity is Strength. If all bank employees jointly decide to fight againt inordinate delay in wage revision , they can not only stop highhandedness  and torturous attitude of top officials but  they can also achieve the task of wage revision in few days only , If there is will, there is a way. Bank employees have to exhibit their strength and their unity by joint and relentless action.

Jago Aam Banker Jago – Revolution Needed in PS Banks to De-Stress Banking Community-By Rajesh Goyal

Yesterday (8th July,2014), late night news came that FGM and CH of PNB,  who have allegedly been responsible for the suicide of Mr Ajay Sehgal have been suspended.   A glance at the Face Book contents revealed a relief on the part of the bankers for the action (though late) taken by top management of PNB.   Another striking trend which attracted my attention on Facebook was that each of the Union was congratulating itself and trying to take credit for the suspension of FGM and CH.   Even those who in their previous posts have praised and confirmed about one of Guptas  being nice person,  now suddenly were in the front row to take credit for the action of his suspension. A plain reading of some of the circulars issued post suspension  tries to give you  LIVE - a blow by  blow details as to how that union’s people were the first to reach the spot or receive thanks call from the affected family.  Thus the usual race to outwit other leader seems to have taken over the death of Mr Sehgal.. 

Anyway, the turn of the events has confirmed one thing.   Things can be changed if Aam Banker decides to hit back.   I am of the view that PNB management was not at all in a mood to take action for suspending the duo  nor were unions interested to demand action this far.  However, the hue and cry raised by Aam Banker on the FaceBook and other social media / websites forced the union leaders to escalate this issue and soon top management also realized that it is the reputation of the bank which is at stack and if action is further delayed it can make irreparable damage to the already fragile relationship between top management and middle and junior management officers.  

The moral of this episode is that more and more Aam Bankers should join social media and participate in the discussions – people who are not brave hearted and fear reprisal may  do so through anonymous names.  Feel free to raise and discuss issues which you are keeping close to your chest due to internal fear of being reprisal.   Daily spare only 5 to 10 minutes and read the stories at your favourite websites and the comments uploaded by your friends.    Give your free and frank comments without naming persons and / or bank.  This will allow you to vent your anger and you will not ever think of going for suicide.  

AllBankingSolutions.com has already provided you such a platform.  However, ensure that you do not indulge in character assassination of a particular person even if  you may not be in good terms with him / her.     Also share the good experiences so as to crate a balancing atmosphere.  Such healthy discussions and criticism will ensure that your voice reaches the desired ears – may be union leaders or top management.   If you are already doing this,convince your other  friends also to join social media and give vent to their anger and desires.

Let me now discuss some aspects which have come to light during last few days and which can be the cause of death of Mr Ajay Sehgal.

TR Verma General Secretary, All INDIA PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK OFFICERS’ FEDERATION (AFFILIATED TO AIBOA), in a circular dated 5th July, 2014 has given the following case which is an eye opener :

“We may bring to your kind notice one more recent example of the arrogance of our Circle Head Shri AK Gupta which reflects his arrogant behaviour. One Chief Manager at BO: RCC Chandigarh was also declared as misfit for the branch. It is a matter of shame that one Senior Manager was posted at the branch and the Chief Manager was advised to work under him. Recently on the recommendations of the Circle Head Chandigarh he was posted at Rohtak against all humane considerations. His wife is a chronic patient of cancer.

 He virtually begged that his wife is a cancer patient (posted in our bank at Panchkula in clerical cadre) and nobody is there in the family to take care her. He was straight way told, “It is your problem”. Is this not the inhumane approach? How people are compelled to take drastic steps like committing suicide? Is this the realistic approach of a boss? Sir, HRD in our bank is a mockery of the system and in fact it is not existing at all in our bank, rather it is at the negative level. Under these circumstances we cannot dream of performance.” 

In case the above is true (I do not have reasons to doubt as the same is being confirmed by a well known union leader), it is really a matter of grave concern as CMD of PNB takes pride in calling  PNB as “PRIVAR”.   Do we treat our family members like that ?  The worst part is that the above is not an isolated case, it happens almost every other day in every circle.   This brings us to question, what is the normal attitude of Head Office in such cases? The answer will be, that they too behave almost in similar way.    I feel CH and FGM learn only from top bosses and follow their broad directions.

Let me quote another paragraph from the above circular, which exposes how people from the same creed / breed / state are brought together by the top bosses at Circle / FGM / HO level to create a gang of officers who can terrorize the lower staff :-

“We also inform the other abrasions of HRD Division at the head office in placements and postings in some combinations against the spirit of the vigilance guidelines. After the posting of FGM at Chandigarh

·         an AGM was posted in his office which belongs to his native place from Punjab i.e. Kapurthala.

·         Then Chief Manager Retail Hub Chandigarh was posted he is again from Kapurthala.

·         Immediately after, Shri AK Gupta Dy. General Manager was posted as Circle Head Chandigarh who was also working previously at Patna with the FGM as his 2nd man. This is not the end.

·         One Chief Manager, who was also working in Patna with the Circle Head Chandigarh,had been posted at CO: Chandigarh.

·         Even for the post of LDM Chandigarh, an officer, who was also working with the Circle Head during his posting at Kanpur, was found most suitable”

“Why these permutations and combinations? Perhaps these combinations gave strength to the Circle Head for his daring step to humiliate the poor Chief Manager continuously”.

The above is an excellent example of creating a caucus which unleashes terror in the circles and FGM offices.  Let me share some of my experiences I have undergone during my service period.   There was a time when HRD was being headed by a person from Eastern part of India.   Everybody in the Bank could feel how blatantly people from that State were favoured and given plum posts and allowed to create groups.   This sent ripples among various sections of officers and raised massive under current of discontent among the officers.   At another time,  top boss in HRD was from Uttar Pradesh.  The people from UP became emboldened and lot of people were posted at appropriate levels to ensure that people from other places find difficult in settling and performing at their postings in that State.  Surprisingly, such people had massive support of CMD of their time.

Can a head of bank  working for years claim  that he is not aware of existence of such caucus.   If he claims so then it is the failure of his intelligence which is absolutely necessary to run effectively any branch, circle or bank.  This also means he is surrounded by sycophants and proper feedback does not reach him.

I have also worked  in a Branch under FGM Chandigarh about 10 years back. Personally I did not face grave situations during my posting,  as I was in main city.   However, interaction with Managers in Scale II and III  from small cities of Himachal Pradesh gave me feedback as  they used to tell about stories how a particular  Regional Head  used to keep them waiting for  branch visit till 9.00 PM or even 10.00 PM.     One can understand the stress they must be facing owing to visit of top officials at such odd hours in winter and that too in hills.   To receive calls from top officials at odd hours has now become regular practice and is considered as non issue.

Everybody will vouch that most of the  Regional Heads / General Managers across the banking industry stretch their so called Manager Meets till dinner time. (Sometimes they are not even offered dinner when meeting ends around 9.00 PM).   Late meetings are norm at Head Offices also.    My personal experience when posted in field was that meetings by FGM used to stretch upto 10.00 PM on number of occasions and used to pull  "Targetted" Managers on filmsy grounds.   I used to wonder why Managers’ meetings  needs to be stretched upto such late nights.   The worst part was that Managers of outside city branches were also instructed  to report to their branches by 10.00 AM next morning.   They were not allowed to stay in the city for the night.  It was done merely to create terror and fear in the minds of the Managers by keeping them under stress.   After few years when I was posted in HO, I have seen the same GM being pulled up by CMD (in the presence of juniors)  in  HO meetings and scolding him and absuing that  mental level of the that GM is only that of Scale-1 officer.  

 I just want to ask Union Leaders whether they have never heard of such incidents.    If they have heard, what action has been taken in last five years  to stop such incidents.    When in service, I  used to ponder upon as to what should I learn from my seniors at the end of the meeting - start abusing and do maa-bahan of juniors even if they are not at fault ?   Frankly speaking I could not learn that art.     I am of the firm view that in such a situation, there is strong chance that the personality development of a junior is to be lop-sided.   Such lop sided persons when Head a Circle / Region / Zone etc. can always behave the way  both Guptas did at Chandigarh.   Let readers decide who is the real culprit and how the same can be rectified in the long run (in the present case only Guptas are going to suffer).

Even today if a officer is posted outside his home town and that town is approachable by 3 to 4 hours road / rail journey, he is not permitted to go to his family even on holidays.  The same is true even for auditors.  By working for 30 years in bank, my mind set too had also fixed in the same direction.  Thus, when my son joined a multinational and was sent from Delhi to a client beyond Bangalore for three months, I thought he will be coming to meet us only once a month or so.  However, I was surprised when he told me that he will come back to Delhi every Friday late night and then again go to client in South India (from Delhi about 3 hours flight time) on first flight on Monday so as to reach by 10.00 – 11.00 AM.  All this will be at company expenses.  This facility is available to employees of that company if they are deputed from India even upto Singapore.   I know that bankers can not even dream of such a possibility  in PS Banks but we can at least think of relaxing the norms so that officers are able to go anywhere on holidays at their own expenses,  by merely informing and not necessarily taking station leave.  Officers may be merely required to send an SMS to HRD incharge of the Region / Circle confirming that he is leaving the station.   This will reduce the stress on the part of the officers and free them from clutches of Circle Heads / Regional Heads / Field General Managers.  Will this move hit the profitability of the bank?   Can any union leader ready to take up this issue with IBA or top management.   Non has the guts even to discuss such an issue with management.

Now coming back to the case of Mr Ajay Sehgal and the follow up that is still needed:-

(a)            Closely watch the investigation by Railway Police and Local Police and provide all the relevant material as evidence which may not be available to the family of our colleague.  Ensure fair trial for both the parties – it should not be vendetta politics even for suspended FGM / CH.

(b)            Attend the Court proceedings and update the same through internet and take steps to provide legal help / expenses to the family so that they do not find any difficult in fighting the case, even if Bank tries to prolong the same.

(c)             Ensure that Bank immediately releases all the dues of Mr Sehgal alongwith his entitled funds under various schemes available for the family like insurance etc.

(d)            Bank should sanction a corpus of funds for the education and marriage of the children.  If it is not possible, let Bank sanction the requisite loan for education of children, if the same is required.  Waive the Housing Loan EMIs (if Housing Loan is outstanding) till case is decided. etc etc.

(e)             As suggested by me two years back in 2012  (when another PNB Chief Manager died during Managers Meeting), the meeting proceedings be videographed,   [ Anybody can click here and read that article as it is still available deep into our links. ]  as there is nothing secret about such meetings.  Such tapes should be kept like our Backups and to be checked only when needed to prove the conduct of the authorities.  (Even Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings are uploaded live for TV channels).   One of the union leaders, Mr Krishna Kumar, has given the hints on his FaceBook that their organization  wish to support this concept.   Let there be unanimity among the union leaders for the final procedure to be followed and bank should issue a circular to this effect.  If management refuses, let it be raised in Board meetings of every bank by officer director, and if necessary legal options may be explored.

 (f)              GoI has been talking of Bank Reforms, and Unions have gone on strike on number of occasions in the past.  Let  UFBU bring out a comprehensive agenda for Reforms in Human Resource Departments of PS Banks.   The Report of such reforms be placed before IBA for implementation in 3 months time.   If Banks do not agree for practical solutions, UFBU can give a call for strike and I hope no officer will regret for deduction of wages for such an issue Some of the Reforms for De-stressing the officer community can be as follows :-

i)                  No branch should remain open beyond 6.00 PM without the permission of Circle / Regional Head, except on account of failure of connectivity or some emergency;

ii)               To open the branch / office on Sundays and Holidays, prior permission of Regional Head / Circle head should be needed through official e-mail, which should mention the number of employees that can be called and the overtime to be paid / compensatory leave to be given;

iii)            There should not be any need to seek prior permission for leaving the station on holidays, but it should be the responsibility of the employee to report back on time after holidays.

iv)             All branches must have the sanctioned strength of the staff, and in case any branch fails to get the same for more than a month, HRD head should be held responsible.  There is lot of unemployment in India, let there be proper planning by HRD people so that understaffing is totally ruled out.   In private sector we have even staff on “Bench” who are posted as and when business grows.   Bank can think of such a pool of employees who are usually used for recovery of NPA or follow up but given to branch performing exceeding well in deposits / credit in a particular period. 

v)                Sale or mis-selling of third party products should preferably be stopped or at least there should not be any targets for the same.   Bank should only note the enquiries received for such products and inform the concerned company so that their staff can directly contact the client.  Accordingly, banks may demand lesser commission for the business.

The above are only some suggestions, there can be large number of other suggestions which can be consolidated based on the feedback of the Aam Banker.

Finally, the ultimate question is whether Unions will come together and use this as opportunity to serve their cadre and make their life easier. 

 I think the TRUE TRIBUTE to Mr Sehgal will be only paid if UFBU launches programme and ensures implementation of the same to De-Stress Banking Staff from Tyranny of Top Officials and change their mind set towards middle and junior staff.

Jago Aam Banker Jago – Join the Social Media Revolution to Get Your Rights

Modi Sarkar Can Save Sick Banks And Make Bank Employees Happier

In the name of merit,   Management of public sector banks has spoiled Human resource. Arbitrary promotion , whimsical rejection in promotion process, inhuman transfers to remote places and inhumane treatment with junior officers  have not only demoralized the working staff but  vitiated the work culture and has caused much frustration to experienced and real performer but have given much value to flatterers and corrupt officers.

Culture of flattery is wide rampant in banks as it is prevalent in government offices. This is why really good banker does not apply for promotion. Banks give promotion to those who apply even if he is having now knowledge and no experience. This is root cause why volume of stressed asset and fraud have sharply increased .Public sector banks are facing erosion in their asset quality, in profit and also in capital. Human Resource Department has become non-functional in all banks. Officials working IN HRD or in Industrial relation or in Vigilance department are virtually puppet in the hands of top officials.

Human Resource Development policies are not at all good or policies are not executed by top officials honestly in the interest of bank, rather all policies are used as a tool to serve their vested self interest. Some officers are not getting promotion even in two or three decades but some others get five or six promotion in a decade or two. Juniors and inexperienced now monitor seniors and experienced. Stagnation in increment and low pension future has further given frustration to real performers. Officers who do not possess enough knowledge and experience are made Head of Branch or Head of a circle. Officers who are clever in flattery and who know the art of speaking have become leaders of banks even if they are corrupt and less efficient.

There is time bound promotion and no stagnation in pay scale of central government employees but in banks pay scale and promotion process both gives punishment to seniors and award to juniors. Even recruitment process has become a source of doing favouritism . Kith and kin of officials are directly recruited in higher scale to give them higher emolument as soon as they join the bank. This is why officers working for last three decades are getting less salary than those who are recruited in last two to five years in higher scale. Hundreds of letters and several cases have been filed in various court  during last three decades, but clever officials of bank management mange these court cases in such a way that they never reach to a logical end.

Whenever top officials of banks are asked why health of banks is weakening day by day, they point out the accusing finger towards global recession or adverse political and economic situation in the country or administrative shortcomings or interference by politicians in their functioning. In the past, say before 1991 they used to say that their hands are not free and they are forced to recruit and promote bank staff as per tradition rules and policies. Government gave bank management complete freedom in the name of reformation in the year 1991. In reformation era banks were allowed to decide their interest rate structure, investment policy, and recruitment and promotion policy in the interest of their bank. But it is unfortunate that during last 24 years, health of almost all public sector bank has deteriorated too much and private banks have slowly and gradually snatched the business of public sector banks.

It is pity and disheartening that the medicine that is required to cure the ailing public sector banks is considered as cause of sickness. Banks should value experienced officers to save the banks but unfortunately management of bank discard seniors and juniors are made Branch head or Regional Head. This is why quality of lending and quality of operation has faced sharp deterioration in last two decades of freedom and volume of stressed assets in almost all banks have seen upsurge and are facing threat of loss. It is true that legal and administrative machinery in the country is also weak and ineffective in recovery of loan from defaulters, but if Human resource is devoted and honest, there is no doubt that standard of banking will improve. Human resource who can make or mar the bank are facing under reign of injustice and facing severest torture without any judicious reward.

To add fuel to fire, wages of bank staff have faced sharp erosion as com0ared to employees of central government employees. It is astonishing that revision of wages of bank staff have been pending for last two years but Indian bank Association as well as Ministry of “Finance are silent spectator of such inordinate delay. After all, this indecisiveness and negligence on the part of top officials of bank as also that of GOI have adversely affected the future of banks and that of depositors, investors and customers of these banks.

Politicians under the regime of UPA damaged these banks for political gain . But now it is expected that Modi Sarkar will take corrective steps to salvage these banks from further damage.I hope Mr. Naredra Modi ,Prime Minister and Mr.Jaitley Finance Minister will take all corrective steps to expedite wage revision and to improve work culture in banks so that they may compete with private banks.

If bank employees are happy and if they all feel joy in working , there is no doubt that banks will rise by leaps and bounds.. Only Happy workforce can ensure growth and safety of banks.On the contrary if officers are subjected to torture and humiliation , cases of regignation,fraud, bad debts , suicide and unnatural death of bank staff have to rise

War Against Officer's Humiliation

Officer Unions Need to Launch  War Against Humiliation by Top -ByRajesh goyur readers (in all Banks) sincerely 
The recent incident wherein Mr Ajay Sehgal (Chief Manager at PNB) has committed suicide on account of alleged  harassment by two senior officers – Field General Manager and Circle Head in Chandigarh area of PNB, has sent chilling reminder among bankers for this ever increasing incidents of harassment by top management across the banking industry.   One of our readers has sent us a list of some recent links wherein some banker has died (heart attack or suicide) due to work pressure / harassment in the banks. 

 I give below these links (a) to (h) :-

(a)    http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/chandigarh/banker-kills-self-names-2-seniors-in-suicide-note/article1-1236514.aspx

(b)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxdqDnyBwTI

(c)    http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-03/kanpur/41725609_1_suicide-note-bank-official-kakadeo

(d)   http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-20/ahmedabad/41428791_1_suicide-note-monday-morning-same-bank

(e)   http://www.telegraphindia.com/1131125/jsp/bihar/story_17609141.jsp#.UpYL92_Mif8

(f)     http://www.newsx.com/regional/up/item/9509-45-year-old-bank-official-commits-suicide

(g)    http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-stressed-over-recovery-of-loans-bank-manager-commits-suicide-1794497

(h)   http://www.aajkikhabar.com/videos/video/News-Track/Bank-Manager-Shoots-Family-Before-Attempting-Suicide-Aaj-Ki-Khabar/1850.html

The above links are grim reminder of the work pressure under which bank officers are required to work.   However, nobody – neither management nor unions -  seems to have bothered for this sorry state of affairs in the banking industry.   The above are only few of the incidents highlighted by media.   There will be hundreds of other incidents which remained unreported / under reported as media is silenced by big banks and such incidents are not highlighted or remain confined to local (vernacular) media. 

Can any Union leaders tell what is the status of each of the above cases?  What is the follow up by unions of all these cases?  Such cases are forgotten in about a month or so. Question arises who should be responsible for taking up such issues to its logical end and what changes have been enforced  by Unions through negotiation to ensure that these do not happen in future?

The current case is even beyond mere humiliation of the officer.  His wife speaks of corruption and unnecessary pressure for toeing the line for sanction of Rs 10 crore loan.  The suicide note talks of achieving most of the targets and CM and FGM being biased on account of some other issues.   Thus, it is now a matter of investigation and truth will come out only if the case is handled properly by the police.   May be CBI enquire is needed.

Bullying by bosses is not new and this is prevalent across the world.   However, the level of bullying by top bosses in banking industry is unheard of and I do not know of any other industry where so many officers die of heart attacks or prefer suicide than to bear the humiliation of bosses or remain under constant threat.   If you are posted in a Circle Office and you are NOT  in the habit of using foul language and do maa – bahan of people in the field, your GM or Circle Head will most likely either recommend for your transfer or will start using  foul language against you too.  This I am writing from my first hand knowledge of the issue as I too has served as second in command in Circle Office.   I have also seen CMDs using all sorts of humiliating words against as high officials as General Manager in meetings where we have presence of Scale II to Scale VI officers.   However, nobody objects as they fear reprisals in the form of transfers and charge sheets.    This trend then percolates down below at GM level and Circle / Regional level, and to some extent at Branch level.  

Each one of us is aware of the phrase : HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.  About two years back (2012) another Chief Manager of PNB has died due to such harassment in a review meeting.  We at AllBankingSolutions.com have covered the same and given some suggestions.  Anybody can click here and read that article as it is still available deep into our links.  I repeat the suggestions given by me at that time  (in 2012) but never taken seriously by unions or management :-

“Although, a number of readers may not agree with us, but we are of the strong view that to start with, the Board of each Bank should form a Committee at Head Office level to deal with the abusive behavior by regional heads / zonal heads / circle heads / GMs / EDs / CMDs in open forums like Manager's review meetings.    The Committee should have at least two Directors (except CMDs / EDs )  as its members, one official from association / union, one member from Ministry of Finance, one member from RBI.   All complaints of abuse during the meeting should be dealt by this Committee.  

The said Committee can meet once a quarter to review the complaints received by them.   In case complaints of misbehavior are received on more than two occasions for the same officer, then it should be made compulsory that the proceedings of the all meeting chaired by him / her, are recorded on camera.  (Now a days the recording of proceedings is very easy and it is also not costly at all as most of the Regional offices / circle offices  / Zonal offices have IT infrastructure in place for such recordings).     We hope if such a policy is adopted by each bank, soon the abuse of  middle level / senior officers will drastically get reduced.   This will also certainly help in reducing the corruption in banking industry”. 

 Now question arises what did Unions do during these two years to ensure that such things do not repeat itself.   Are unions meant to merely collect  monthly “chanda” (subscription) and collected money to be spent on hotels, airfares etc.  The above formula may not be the best one.  Then, let another formula which can be better than above be evolved and finalized after discussions with IBA and MoF.   However, no union leaders ever discussed the issue again and the case seems to have been successfully buried. 

The sacrifice of Mr Ajay Sehgal should not go waste.  There is a need to gear up the unions at all India level as this problem is across banking industry and covers almost whole of India.  Let UFBU intervene in the issue and have an exclusive meeting with IBA and MoF officials on this issue and above proposal or any other better proposal which  can produce evidence in such harassment cases be discussed and finalized and implemented in all banks within say three months i.e. end of September 2014.

  

This is the need of the hour and UFBU must take up the issue or else officers will keep on suffering at the hands of the corrupt, bullying bosses.   Some of officers who are emotionally sensitive may opt for soft option of suicide.  

PNB has failed to take appropriate  action against the FGM and CH who have been named in the suicide note.   It is reported that top management considers that this suicide can be due to family problem.  Police does not know the whereabouts of both these officials (as per reports of HT) and PNB was  not committing itself whether they are on leave or absconding from duty.  If they were on leave, who sanctioned their leave and on what grounds the same was allowed?  If they are absconding whether PNB has issued any show cause notice ?  If they were on duty, then why police is saying that they are not aware ofthe whereabouts of both officials.    All these questions must be haunting the PNB staff and family of the deceased.   As per PNB's website,  Transfer and Posting of Senior Officers dated 5th July, 2014, Mr J K Gupta (FGM, Chandigarh) has been asked to report to HO for further assignment; whereas Mr A K Gupta (Circle Head, CO Chandigarh) has been transferred to DGM, FGM office, Lucknow. 

Initially HT reports indicated that "The Punjab National Bank Officers' Association has given an All-India call for strike on July 7 and 9".  Now on 6th July, 2014, I have received a message wherein Mr Dilip Saha, GS, AIPNBOA has confirmed that ALL ACTION PROGRAMMES have been DEFERRED as PNB has taken action and transferred FGM and CH.  It is reported that CMD has asked FGMs / CHs to respect human values and proper dealing with juniors etc. etc.   AIPNBOA  has even sent congratulating message to their members for their solidarity & support.   It is shocking to read "congratulating messages of union"  when officers are still seething with anger for the proper response of management for the action.

I leave it to our readers to decide whether mere transfers in this case are sufficient justice for the family of Mr Ajay Sehgal. 

Personally,  I feel that Part I of burying the case was completed  when PNB issued merely the transfer orders of these officials and took them away from police net.   Now Part II is also complete when Unions have accepted this as sufficient action.  Wait for another week or so when everybody will forget about the case and police sends the file to Archive room.   However,  Comments on FB give some idea of the thinking of Aam Banker on the decision taken by management / Unions of PNB.  This case too is likely to meet the same fate as the case quoted by us two years back.

P.S. : Social Media has large number of comments.  I am giving below some of those comments which should be eye opener for management and union leaders :

 (A) Hard Hitting Comments by Preet Sain on FaceBook after transfer of the two officials from Chandigarh:

"Strange..... transfer as a punishment for murdering someone...kuddos to CMD and all those who consider it as a justifiable action.....they have to be suspended.. transferring is actually helping them to be away from chandigarh police.. and delay the further police action...

I spit on this decision.. and all those who agree on it....once again ...clearly proved... water flowsfrom Top to bottom.. none other than Mr CMD is responsible for it.. this was his litmus test.. and his actions have spoken wat he is.. this is PNB for which u served 23 yrs ...RIP Sehgal ji..."

(B) Comments of Charu Bhattacharya from PNB who is also very active on FB and does not mind calling a spade a spade.  These comments remind all of us about various other problems being faced by officers in banks, which ultimately put so much pressure that one is forced to think of taking extreme step  :-

क्या आप मान सकते है की नेताओ को पता नहीं है की बहुत से मंडलों में :-

- समस्त अधिकारी महीने मैं कम से कम दस दिन काउंटर पर बैठते हैं और लिपिकीय कार्य करते हैं.

- अधिकारियो पर अनुचित कार्य करने का प्रबंधतंत्र द्वारा दबाव दिया जाता है.

- पी. ऍफ़. रेटिंग ख़राब कर दी जाती है उन की जो मुह खोलते है

- छुट्टियाँ मांगो तो लगता है जैसे उनकी नानी मर गयी हो

- थर्ड पार्टी प्रोडक्ट्स बेचने की लिए धमकाया जाता है.

- प्रत्येक अधिकारी रोज कम से कम तीन घंटा ओवरटाइम करता है.

- हर शाखा में अंडर staffing है

- जरा जरा सी बातो पर chargesheet होती है

- कई तो बात ऐसे करते हैं जैसे की उनकी ससुराल से दहेज़ में हमें नौकर बना कर भेजा गया है

- कई बड़े अधिकारी केवल पैसे कमाने में लगे हैं.

(C) TRUTH : The following lines on FB uploaded by Pramod Ranjan Kukreti, which  depict the truth in this case about PNB Management,  and the attitude of  Union Leaders following the transfer orders.   [ Please read carefully and try to follow the message ] 

शहर के चौराहे पर 
पडी एक लाश 
एक आदमी अभी अभी 
चलती टेृन के आगे कूदा है । 

एक कुत्ता जोर जोर से 
भौंक रहा है
सिस्टरम के खिलाफ
दूसरा छोटा कुत्ता
भौंक रहा है
पहले के विरोध में 

याचना भरी नजरों से
मालिक को कनखनियो
से देखते हुए 

और मुझे ,
दोनों की ही हिलती दुम
दिखाई दे रही है ।

Above article is written by Sri Rajesh Goyal (allbankingsolutions.com)

What Trade Union Leaders Are Doing?

Bank employees are eagerly waiting for wage revision which is due since November 2012. There are other several issues which need the attention of those who are said to be well wisher of bank staff.

There is practically no stagnation for central government employees as per last pay commission recommendation and as accepted by government of India. Why is there stagnation in pay scale meant for only bank employees particularly when bank is not in a position to accommodate so many candidates in higher scale due to their own constraints and when there are fewer vacancies?

For none of fault of senior officers, they are denied not only promotions but also annual increment.

When banks do not find such senior officers for promotions, bank should not hesitate in accepting resignation of such officers and allow full pension and retirement benefits. But there is no justification for stopping annual increment. By denying increments to all, bank management is creating anomalies in pension payments too. An employee who worked for 30 years and an employee who worked for 40 years will get almost same amount of pension if they leave the bank. In near future even an employee who worked for  20 years to 25 years will get higher pension who have been serving bank for more than 30 to 35 years. It is important to note that pension is calculated maximum for 33 years of service even if an employee has worked for 40 years.

Officers who have transferred from outside states to North East States were getting so many incentives as per 1984 circular or as guidelines of IBA as prevalent for central government employees working in other sectors in eighties. Why these incentives have not been revised during last 25 years?

Special allowance fixed Rs.1200/ or Rs.1500/ for specified area is common for all staff posted in North East region. What about additional benefits for those who are transferred from other states to North East?

For outsiders, there was a provision of Rs.1500. p.m. in 1984 when Rs.1500/ was a significant amount compared to prevailing scale of pay for officers at that time. Now even that Rs.1500/ (it should be at least 10000 in view of price rise and scale rise during last 25 years) or 12.5% of pay has been abolished.

Originally North East posting policy was framed for enthusing employees to serve in north eastern based branches for two years and then they were given preferred posting. Unfortunately this holy policy is now misused by greedy and corrupt executives to sideline good officers from their path of earning illegal money and golden gifts.

Incentives of preferred and choice posting to employees who served North east branches for two years also stands snatched. Preferred posting after completion of two years tenure also lies on the mercy of top officials. There is no shame feeling in the minds of ED or top executives when they  violate the existing policy or misuse the same in the name of bank’s exigencies.

After all management of PS banks know that Indian judiciary cannot decide the case even in two to three decades. And they also know the art of delaying hearing on court cases associated with bank employees’ promotion or posting or payment. They also know the art of buying trade union leaders or building pressure on trade union leaders so that they may reconcile with whims of top officials of management.

God knows what union leaders are doing?

There are lacs of bank employees who are continuously working in rural areas for one or two decades or even more. On the other hand there are  lacs of bank employees who are continuously posted in Metros and Urban areas. Unfortunately only a section of employees are facing frequent transfers from one corner to the other corner of the country.

God knows l what union leaders are doing?

Answer is that trade union leaders are also standing in the same que in which a team of flatterers are standing to get maximum benefit from higher bosses, cream posting, reckless earning through credit lending or waiver of loan without any fear of action from higher bosses and get preferred promotions for their flatterer members if they so like.


It is therefore better to say All is Well sir, No problem sir, everything will be o.k. sir, I am there don't worry, I will manage it, I will manage media people, I will manage CBI people and so on. These wordings are a few permanent wording of flatterers.

In past , several writ petitions have been filed against arbitrary promotion of some officers and whimsical denial to some others. Cases have also been filed against whimsical changes every year undertaken by bank management in promotion policies merely to suit the candidates of their choices. But none of such cases could reach the final judgement. 

Even the cases pertaining to historic injustice in recovery of money from bank staff for giving them 2nd option of pension filed in various High courts are languishing for last four to five years only because petitioner cannot afford spending lacs of rupees whereas bank management sacrifice crores of rupees on advocates in abortion of such court cases which may expose their involvement in  corruption  . Trade Union leaders who worked in nexus with top officials of management in arriving at agreement on lines dictated by government of India and IBA in IX Bipartite settlement are almost playing the role of management so far as suppression of interest of bank staff is concerned..

A few executives by using their mobile phones using some flatterer Branch Managers to extend credit to unscrupulous borrowers and sacrificing huge amount in compromise and waiver of loan scheme just to earn some illegal money and quicker promotions.

Banks assets worth thousands and thousands of crores of rupees are locked and lost in bad borrowers every year whereas government of India, RBI and all regulating agencies remain silent spectators.

People have seen how NPA rose 500% during last few  years in Public Sector Bank but regulating agencies are not ready to accept that health of these bank will deteriorate in future . There is in fact none to bell the cat.

Branch Manager of a bank is passing through his bad days.
His boss ask for growth in deposit as they desire, they want lending , accepting bribe from borrowers and then pay bribe to government departments for mobilizing bulk deposit. They (bosses) do not mind if loan sanctioned by Branch head goes bad provided bribe earned by Branch head is honestly shared with bosses and a little portion of such ill earned money is tactfully spent on auditors, vigilance officers and other visiting officials. 

Branch Manager who is master in art of giving bribe and accepting bribe can only succeed in his career; he can get cream posting and quickest promotion and it is he who gets respect and recognition in all meetings and interviews.

On the other hand if a Branch Manager avoids sanction of loan to bad persons he will earn bad name in his locality, his bosses will rebuke him for not achieving target fixed for lending and for other parameters. If he does not adopt path of flattery and bribery he may be transferred to such a place where bad assets are enormous and the person who sanctioned bad loan is now one of top ranked executive. In every meeting with bosses, such branch managers are main target because they fail to recover the money from bad borrowers as per whims and fancies of the bosses. Such BMs are always stressed and frustrated in life and face humiliation in all meetings and rejected in promotion processes. 

It is bitter truth in a bank that accountability is never fixed on officers who caused the assets to become bad but fixed on officers who is not perfect Yesman of his bosses.

As such if one has to remain in power, he or she must learn the art of flattery and bribery. Let the bank go to hell, let the assets turn from good to bad and from bad to worst, but do not forget to extend red carpet welcome to bosses when they visit to your branch, do not forget to offer golden and diamond gifts to bosses whenever you met them and take care of all persons, goods and services which and whom bosses like. 

For God sake, please do not dare express verbally or in writing such truths which may hurt your bosses even if you sincerely feel that expression of such truth may save your lovely bank from considerable losses.

Please keep in mind that since all bad assets which were created and concealed by top executives during their posting as branch head or regional head are now exposed due to RBI’s directive to declare NPA only as per system. As such even CMDs and EDs are getting the same humiliating treatment when they meet Ministers, Finance Secretaries, and senior officers in various regulating offices and even in press conferences .General Managers are rebuked by CMDs and EDs and then GM rebukes DGMs and AGMS and in the same way culture of firing percolates down the level and upto field officials. 

In such environment, willingly or unwillingly one is tempted to adopt corrupt path of flattery and bribery or that of remaining a silent spectator tolerating all stresses and strains GENERATED DUE TO HIS POOR OR so called non performance. Former keeps one healthy and pleasant whereas the later makes him sick of several diseases.

Now you have to decide what is good and what is bad for you. 

It may be kept in mind that if the loan sanctioned by you become NPA and loss asset I future, you have several common excuses to offer before bosses such as , “there is global recession”, “sir loan became bad due to high rate of interest”, “due to bad weather business could not yield desired result” and so on.

Even CMDs and EDs are putting such excuses before MOF and RBI for unprecedented rise in bad assets in their bank. There is none to accuse you of indulging in bribery and neither can anyone prove it .

No action can be initiated against you even if the account goes bad because management also fear that punitive action may adversely affect the lending programme and bank may fail to achieve the target set for credit growth. 

There is no valid excuse for non achievement of lending target but there are several acceptable excuses for asset turning bad and for non recovery in bad accounts. 

If you are flatterer and yesman , your all sins even that of bribery and on performance are excused, but if you pose to be perfect you have to face the music of modern era and invite several diseases and family problems.