FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN through Secretary Finance Government of Pakistan and others vs KHALID JAVED

' SARDAR MUHAMMAD RAZA KHAN, J.--- Leave has been granted to the Federation of Pakistan to appeal from the judgment, dated 11-10-2006 of the learned Federal Service Tribunal, Islamabad whereby, the compulsory retirement of the respondent Khalid Javed was converted into reduction to the lower post of L.D.C. For five years.

2. Initially appointed as gunman and subsequently as Lower Division Clerk, the respondent Khalid Javed was promoted as Upper Division Clerk on 27-8-1997. While posted as such, at the National Saving Centre Sambrial Sialkot, he was proceeded against under the Removal from Service (Special Powers) Ordinance, 2000 on the following charges:--- "(i) He issued a chit containing incorrect details of profit and got blank NS-15 signed from the investor in advance on 21-5-2002 in respect of SSC Reg.No,3259 with mala fide intention to pocket roll over benefit of Rs,3020.

(ii) He issued a chit on 21-5-2002 to the purchaser of RIC Regd.No,1398 calculating the amount of profit payable as Rs,1,65,600 as against Rs,2,15,946 actually due. He did this with mala fide intention to pocket Rs,50,346.

(iii) He in collusion with the Centre Incharge made fake entries showing payment of Rs,1,130 to the investor in the books on 3-5-2002 and pocketed Rs,1,130 on 3-5-2002.

(iv) As against the due profit of Rs,1,66,400, he paid Rs,1,60,000 only as profit on SSC Regd.No,2549 on 27-5-2000 and pocketed Rs,6,400.

(v) He paid less profit to the clients amounting to Rs,6,461 holding SSC Regd.Nos.2439, 3026, 3028, 2450 and 2879 with mala fide intention and pocketed the reinvestment benefit."

3. The Inquiry Officer held him guilty of charges Nos.1, 2 and 3. He was served with a show-cause notice and major penalty of compulsory retirement was imposed. His departmental appeal was also rejected on 21-10-2003. The learned Federal Service Tribunal, as mentioned earlier, converted compulsory retirement into reduction in lower scale for five years. Hence this appeal.

4. We have gone through the evidence as well as the record wherefrom it stands proved and rightly so held by the two forums that the respondent has been guilty of misconduct while posted in a financial institution where the trust of public is the hallmark. We have no reasons to disagree with such findings and hence would confine ourselves to the quantum of sentence.

5. People employed in financial institutions deal with public money and any negligence or default- on their behalf leads to the loss of faith in such institutions. Once public loses confidence, it is extremely difficult, painstaking and time consuming to rehabilitate the same. It was in this background that a larger bench of this Court in Assistant Director (Admn.) National Savings Centre and others v. Muhammad Anwar 1990 SCM R 1214, had taken serious notice of any misappropriation conducted in a financial institution. In that case too, it was a matter of late posting of money and the stance was taken, like one taken by the learned counsel for the respondent in the instant case, that no ultimate loss was sustained by the customers. The circumstances being identical, hence following the above precedent, we hold that the learned Tribunal was not justified in reducing the punishment. The appeal is accepted, the impugned judgment, dated 11-10-2006 is set aside and punishment of compulsory retirement imposed by the Departmental Authority is restored.