Letter date 07.07.2014 from our General Secretary Mr Dilip Saha is as follow:- 07.07.2014 The Chairman & Managing Director, Punjab National Bank, Head Office, NEW DELHI. Sir, Reg: Administrative action - suicide committed by Sh.Ajay Sehgal, Chief Manager. Ref: Our letter of even number dated 03.07.2014 Please refer to our letter dated 03.07.2014 wherein while pointing out the causes of the untimely sad incident of suicide of Shri Ajay Sehgal, Chief Manager, Sector-20, Panchkula, we had also pointed out the direct cause of this suicide, the prevailing situation in most part of the country where officers are insulted with foul language, humiliated, threatened in meetings by Circle / FGM authorities. Earlier to this, on the same day we had sent a SMS to you informing the incident and seeking action. It is common knowledge that while Bank business has grown more than 8 times over the last decade, commensurate recruitment and retention did not take place adding enormous pressure on officers as a whole. Without adequate staff, new branches are opened by deploying staff from existing branches, thereby putting further strain on the officer staff. Bank management sign a different MOU with the Government for achieving business targets which is attuned to the prevailing economic scenario but adopt a different much higher budget for field functionaries which in itself adds pressure. In such a scenario the over-zealous circle and field level authorities without any basic understanding of HR starts devising their own method of monitoring and strategy for business growth. Most often these strategies are threat of transfer, heave insults, humiliating officers repeatedly in public and private meetings, calling them ‘Nikamma, withdrawing staff, denying leave to incumbents, in the name of counseling sending derogatory letters, threatening to spoil career etc. Through our above letter we demanded appropriate action in the matter not only to proceed against those at fault but also to give message to the whole PNB Parivar to work with dignity and confidence. In this prevailing atmosphere, the entire rank and file, especially the officers wanted to vent their anger & anguish by way of protest through the platform of association. Not getting any immediate response from management as the situation demand, on 4th July 2014 the office bearers of our association chalked out the following programme: Lunch time / after office hour demonstration to vent anguish of rank & file against inhumane approach of management and condolence meeting in memory of Com. Ajay Sehgal with submission of memorandum to FGM / Circle Head / HO authorities of PNB. 04.07.2014: At / near FMGO, Chandigarh jointly by all Circles of Haryana & Punjab. 07.07.2014: At all FGMOs and HO by respective Circle committees of FGMO / HO with neighbouring circles joining them. 09.07.2014: At all Circle Headquarters by respective Circle units & at HO. The demonstration & condolence meeting on 4th July 2014 was peaceful at Chandigarh where over 500 officers participated. On 5th noon your good-self talked to the undersigned over phone and expressed sorrow on the untimely death of the officer and called for maintaining restrain in this hour of crisis. You also pointed out that by agitation throughout the country the matter would only get publicized amongst general public and would harm the reputation of the bank, the deceased cant be brought back by agitation and it is time to solace the family of Shri Sehgal. The undersigned pointed out that on customer complaint officers have been transferred, that officers across the country are agitated because they are also facing such humiliation from their authorities and in spite of pointing out such misbehavior of higher officials in the past, no action has been taken. It was also pointed out that in any criminal case of murder the family of the victim demands punishment though the lost one cant be brought back and similarly, without adequate action on the persons responsible in this case and without proper message to the Senior Management to behave as also assurance to the rank & file, there cant be closure. After these deliberations and on proposal to immediately transfer the officers as an initial step, sending proper communication to the PNB Parivar, counseling senior officers in the field and on your call to avoid any further negative publicity of the bank due to agitation at different circles, we had deferred our further agitation programmes with immediate effect in order to have a calming atmosphere in which further deliberations can be made for taking adequate action required in such a serious case. You were kind enough to again call back to update the steps taken by you as proposed. The entire collective psyche of the officers was so much traumatized by this singular event that they felt further action should be taken quickly to get a sense of justice to bring back normalcy. The undersigned telephoned our ED (HR) on 6th July noon and had a very detailed discussion on this issue including the general negative atmosphere in the field due to lack of sensitivity on the part of top Management, non-resolution of aspirations & expectations of officers capsulated through various MRM meetings and on the single point agenda of the management for business growth through off repeated monolog ‘business not growing and officers are not working. We also pointed out that it is the responsibility of the management to trigger positivity through benign actions. By night of 6th July we did not get any feel that further action is contemplated by the management and due to such inaction, the relentless media coverage has already created a bad name for the organization. The undersigned had to call our ED again after 11.00 pm at night and demanded that management should at the very least suspend the officials first thing on the morning of 7th July for their act which not only brought disrepute to the organization but made the family of Shri Sehgal suffer this irreparable loss. On 7th morning the undersigned called your good-self and again demanded that management should immediately suspend the duo more so when non-bailable sections are included in the FIR lodged by police. We also pointed out that if they are suspended due to police action, then it would tantamount to technicality and not direct administrative action. Although you informed that you have again deputed one senior most GM today itself to inquire /submit status report into the entire case for taking further action in the matter, we strongly feel that delay in suspension would aggravate the negative impact further. An article appeared in Hindustan Times that an Advocate from Chandigarh has filed a complaint before the National Human Rights Commission; New Delhi seeking PNB authorities to immediately suspend the officers and made them join the investigation process. It is also reported that the advocate sought Rs. 5 Crore compensation for the victims family as he has died in connection with his official duties and due to negligence of the bank authorities in failing to address the problem of victimization. In this back ground the Office Bearers of the Association are meeting at Mumbai on 9th July 2014 to deliberate & take stock of the entire situation to formulate further organizational approach. We again urge upon you to take assertive proactive action to suspend the officers and declare a suitable compensation to his family to defuse the situation. Thanking you, Yours sincerely, (DILIP SAHA) GENERAL SECRETARY
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 02:58:26 +0000