MUHAMMAD NAEEM KHAN vs PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN Branch manager of (National) Bank

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MUHAMMAD NAEEM KHAN VS PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN Branch manager of (National) Bank---Negligence and dereliction of duty---Penalty of demotion to one lower grade for a period of three years---Appellant being Branch Manager was responsible to keep an eye on the activities in his Branch relating to its business---In view of his senior and supervisory position, it was his responsibility and duty to supervise, exercise, control and keeping a vigilant eye on each and every aspect of business and services provided by different sections of the Branch; he was not only required to be vigilant but to have direct and first-hand knowledge and maintain supervision of all activities and the manner in which such activities were being conducted---Admittedly fraud was committed in the Branch and in the opinion of the inquiry officer, lack of vigilance for long periods of time and failure of the appellant to put systems in place and maintaining the relevant registers perpetrated and perpetuated continuous fraud for almost four years---Appellant consciously and deliberately covered up the fraud and thereby facilitated commission of such fraud which resulted in misappropriation of substantial sums of money at the cost of the exchequer---No explanation was available on the record as to why despite being intimated by a whistleblower and others including surprise audits the appellant remained complacent, failed to take any action and steps to ensure that the delinquents were brought to book by way of appropriate action in accordance with law and that continuation of the fraud and misappropriation of public money was stopped---Instead, the appellant pressurized the whistleblower to remain silent and ultimately removed him from the pension payment section and failed to take any action despite identification of fraud and misappropriation of funds from the pension account during surprise audits---Further the appellant failed to inform the Regional Management, his immediate superior authority about the delinquency of his subordinate staff---On the contrary, he made active efforts to cover up and hide their activities and let embezzlement continue unabated for about four years---Such failure by the appellant emboldened those who were misappropriating funds to continue their activities for years on end---Appellant was provided all relevant documents required by him in order to build his defence and he was also given, an opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses who appeared against him---Appellant also signed the inquiry proceedings confirming the fact that he was provided all due process rights for his defence---Penalty imposed on the appellant was proportionate to the gravity of his offence---Besides Bank had made a statement before the High Court to the effect that the penalty imposed on the appellant was for a limited period of three years and that he shall be considered for promotion in accordance with the rules by the competent authorities on expiry of the said period---Appeal was dismissed.

MUHAMMAD NAEEM KHAN vs PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN Branch manager of (National) Bank — 2021 SCMR 785 SUPREME-COURT

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