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In a strong judgment highlighting the rights of persons with disabilities, the Calcutta High Court has ordered Punjab National Bank (PNB) to pay ₹3 lakh to one of its officers, Anirban Pal, for the inhuman and unjust treatment he faced after being promoted. The court called the bank’s behavior “reprehensible” and criticized it for failing to follow its own policies and the law.
Who Is Anirban Pal?
Anirban Pal is a bank officer who suffered a major road accident in 2015, which left him with a 70% physical disability. At the time, he was a Scale-III officer at the bank.
In 2016, he chose not to participate in the promotion process because he feared that a promotion might result in a transfer away from his home city, Kolkata. However, when he saw that two of his disabled colleagues were promoted to Scale-IV without transfer, he decided to take a chance in 2018.
What Went Wrong?
Pal was successfully promoted to Scale-IV in 2018. But soon after, the bank transferred him to Patna. He immediately requested to stay in Kolkata, explaining that he would have no caregiver in Patna and that it would be hard for him to manage alone due to his disability. However, the bank refused to consider his condition and insisted he report to Patna.
After a short stint in Patna, Pal went on medical leave due to physical pain and discomfort. He then requested either:
- A return to Kolkata while keeping his Scale-IV promotion, or
- A reversion to Scale-III if that meant he could be transferred back to Kolkata.
In December 2018, after the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities stepped in, Pal was brought back to Kolkata — but only as a Scale-III officer, losing the promotion he had earned.
When he again asked in 2020 for his Scale-IV rank to be restored, the bank denied the request, leading him to approach the High Court.
What the Court Found
Justice Rajashekhar Mantha took serious note of the bank’s actions. The court observed:
- Four other Scale-IV officers were transferred to Kolkata in October 2018, around the same time Pal was being forced to go to Patna. So, the bank’s claim that there was no vacancy in Kolkata was false.
- The bank violated its own policy, which allows officers with disabilities to stay in their preferred posting locations, even after promotion.
- Pal suffered emotional and physical stress during his short stay in Patna, and his decision to seek demotion just to return home was a forced one.
- The bank did not need an external order from the Chief Commissioner; it had internal guidelines to protect employees like Pal from such transfers.
The judge even suggested that Pal’s repeated requests may have hurt the egos of his superiors, a problem that affects many public sector banks, where senior staff sometimes ignore the rights of their juniors, especially those with disabilities.
Court Verdict
While the Court did not restore Pal’s promotion, it said the bank’s behavior deserved punishment. It ordered PNB (formerly United Bank of India) to:
- Pay ₹3 lakh to Anirban Pal as a form of penalty and compensation.
- The amount must be paid within three weeks.
The court also directed:
- The Chairman of PNB,
- The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities,
- The Central Government, and
- The Vigilance Commissioner
to take disciplinary action against the officers responsible for this mistreatment.
This ruling is a major reminder that disabled employees have rights, and no organization — public or private — can ignore the law or basic human decency. The judgment also called for better awareness and sensitivity training among bank officials so that such incidents do not happen again.
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