Bank employee promotion case remains suspended

By S. S. Selvanayagam

The impugned promotion scheme to the Senior Manager in the Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank remains suspended.

District Court Judge K. Wathupola has refused an application for interim injunction and thus the enjoining order issued against the Defendants expired.

The Plaintiff Hetti Arachchige Anura instituted action against the HDFC Bank and two other Defendants, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and obtained enjoining orders, inter alia, restraining HDFC Bank from effecting the letter of suspension of promotion of the Plaintiff to the post of Senior Manager, Grade II.

The Ceylon Bank Employees Union (CBEU) intervened in this action and was made the fourth Added Defendant on 26 April.

The CBEU objected to the enjoining order and application for interim injunction stating, inter alia, that the HDFC disregarding the CBEU’s request for discussion with regards the promotion scheme for non-mainstream employees surprisingly issued a confidential internal memo which was a promotion scheme dated 15 September 2009.

The CBEU objected to the said promotion scheme and stated that the union would get into conflict with the HDFC Bank if it went ahead with the promotion scheme.

The CBEU also gave permission for its Branch Union to carry out trade union action and HDFC rescinded the said promotion scheme but once again issued by confidential memo a subsequent promotion scheme dated 24 November 2009, which resulted in the Plaintiff obtaining the said promotion.

The CBEU in its objections and written submissions submitted that out of the eight promotees, only the Plaintiff had come before the District Court as the other seven promotees had accepted that the promotion scheme was irregular and had not accepted the promotions.

The CBEU further submitted that the promotion scheme favoured the Plaintiff heavily and the said scheme was not formulated with the concurrence of the CBEU and that a promotion scheme could only be formulated with the concurrence of the CBEU as in the case of other banks and promotion schemes.