SBI termination notices to Jats appointed under OBC quota

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, October 13

The State Bank of India (SBI) has served termination notices to a number of Jat probationary officers (POs) appointed under the OBC category about 10 months ago.

The bank has now termed their appointment as void-ab-initio (to be treated as invalid from the outset) and liable to be terminated. These POs were selected in the April 2104 batch of the SBI and had joined their duties on December 29, 2014.

These POs posted in different circles of the SBI across the country have been planning to approach the court against the decision to terminate their services. About 25 such POs have formed a group to fight a legal battle.

Orders issued by a general manager of the SBI to a PO, Medha Sheokand who was posted in Mumbai circle, says ‘You have been appointed as PO with effect from December 29, 2014 under the OBC quota by giving benefit of the notification issued on March 4, 2014. This notification has been set aside and quashed by the Supreme Court in its judgment dated March 17, 2015. Hence, your appointment in the Bank’s service has become void ab initio and liable to be terminated”. The notice gives opportunity to the employee to submit his/her views on the matter within 15 days failing with their service would be automatically terminated.

“The Central Recruitment and Promotion Department (CRPD) of the SBI has issued an advertisement for the post of the POs and invited online applications from April 7, 2014 against about 1837 vacancies. Since the Jats were included in the OBC on March 4, many youths belonging to the community applied for the jobs and got selected. They were given appointments on December 29 and are currently posted in various circles including Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmadabad of the bank,” one of the affected employee said.

Jat leader Yashpal Malik who was spearheading the stir for the OBC status stated that it was wrong to terminate the services of those who had been given appointment many months before the Supreme Court quashed the quota. “These youngsters were selected by due process. Sacking them now would be grave injustice to them,” he said.