Public-sector bankers and the Sword of Damocles

The word 'vigilance' is a dreaded term for PSB employees, and there are instances of this fear being misused by the higher authorities

- TAMAL BANDYOPADHYAY

Last year, a chief manager of a public-sector bank (PSB) in Rajasthan was served a notice a day before he was to retire. The charge related to an alleged fraud in financing a real-estate project in 2022. Following a departmental enquiry which had lasted close to two years, quite a few bankers at different levels in this PSB — directly or indirectly related with the process of sanction and disbursement of loan — had come under vigilance scrutiny.

For the chief manager, this was the first chargesheet in his unblemished 35-year career. As he had no time left before retirement to face long departmental enquiry proceedings and defend himself, the banker accepted the charges. If he had not, he would have been denied several retirement benefits, including pension, until the conclusion of enquiry, which could have taken a few years. On the last day of his career, he was punished with a six-scale pay reduction: Six annual increments (plus dearness allowance on the basic pay) were slashed for calculating his pension.

In another instance, a chief general manager of a PSB was linked to a large loan that turned bad. Following this, a vigilance enquiry was proposed. This found a mention in his CV when he was appearing for an interview for promotion to the executive director (ED) position.

The gentleman was eventually exonerated from the charges, but he missed several opportunities to become an ED, as the reference to the vigilance enquiry was held against him at every interview. After a long wait, he became an ED, but not a managing director, as time ran out for him to become eligible for the corner room.

For India's public-sector bankers, vigilance enquiry is the proverbial "Sword of Damocles". The phrase originates from a Greek legend about Damocles, a courtier of King Dionysius-I of Syracuse.