The Supreme Court has brought closure to a decades-old legal tussle involving a dismissed bank manager by directing Punjab National Bank (PNB) to pay compensation of ₹3 lakh to his widow. The order came in a contempt petition filed for non-compliance of the Court’s earlier directions regarding release of dues.
The case began in 1985 when A.K. Jayaprakash, then a manager with Nedungadi Bank, was dismissed on charges of irregularities in loan sanctioning. The Labour Commissioner later reinstated him, finding no dishonesty or loss to the bank.
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The Madras High Court upheld the reinstatement but limited back wages to 60%. By the time the matter reached the Supreme Court in 2009, Nedungadi Bank had merged with Punjab National Bank. In January 2018, the apex court dismissed PNB’s appeal and directed the bank to release outstanding dues within three months.
However, compliance came much later. Payments towards arrears of salary, gratuity, and provident fund were released only between March 2019 and June 2023. In the meantime, Jayaprakash passed away, and his legal heirs continued the litigation. His family argued that the delay amounted to wilful disobedience and further sought pension benefits.
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The Court, while acknowledging the delay, ruled that it did not amount to deliberate defiance. Justice Augustine George Masih observed,
"While such circumstances cannot justify laxity in complying with orders of this Court, the element of mens rea, essential for sustaining a charge of civil contempt, cannot be inferred merely from the factum of delay."
On the demand for pension, the Bench clarified that no such relief had been granted in earlier proceedings.
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"Contempt jurisdiction is not a forum for asserting new claims or seeking substantive reliefs which were neither raised nor granted earlier," the judgment stated.
Yet, recognising the prolonged struggle of the family, the Court awarded a lump sum compensation of ₹3 lakh to Jayaprakash’s widow, Smt. Vimala Prakash. The Bench directed PNB to make the payment within eight weeks, failing which interest at 8% would apply until disbursement.
The Court also made it clear that no further proceedings on the matter would be entertained once this direction is complied with. With this, a legal battle spanning nearly four decades was finally put to rest.
Case Title: A.K. Jayaprakash (Dead) through LRs vs. S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao and Another
