Section 19. Power to make regulations
(1) The Board of Directors of a corresponding new bank may, after consultation with the Reserve Bank and with the previous sanction of the Central Government, 1 [by notification in the Official Gazette,] make regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act or any scheme made thereunder, to provide for all matters for which provision is expedient for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Act.
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, the regulations may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:--
(a) the powers, functions and duties of local boards and restrictions, conditions or limitations, if any, subject to which they may be exercised or performed, the formation and constitution of local committees and committees of local board (including the number of members of any such committee), the powers, functions and duties of such committees, the holding of meetings of local committees and committees, of local boards and the conduct of business thereat;
(b) the manner in which the business of the local boards shall be transacted and the procedure in connection therewith;
2 [(ba) the nature of shares of the corresponding new bank, the manner in which and the conditions subject to which shares may be held and transferred and generally all matters relating to the rights and duties of shareholders;
(bb) the maintenance of register, and the particulars to be entered in the register in addition to those specified in sub-section (2F) of section 3, the safeguards to be observed in the maintenance of register on computer floppies or diskettes, inspection and closure of the register and all other matters connected therewith:
(bc) the manner in which general meetings shall be convened, the procedure to be followed thereat and the manner in which voting rights may be exercised;
(bd) the holding of meetings of shareholders and the business to be transacted thereat;
(be) the manner in which notices may be served on behalf of the corresponding new bank upon shareholders or other persons;
(bf) the manner in which the directors nominated under clause (h) of sub-section (3) of section 9 shall retire;]
(c) the delegation of powers and functions of the board of directors of a corresponding new bank to the general manager, director, officer or other employee of that bank;
(d) the conditions or limitations subject to which the corresponding new bank may appoint advisers, officers or other employees and fix their remuneration and other terms and conditions of service;
(e) the duties and conduct of advisers, officers or other employees of the corresponding new bank;
(f) the establishment and maintenance of superannuation, pension, provident or other funds for the benefit of officers or other employees of the corresponding new bank or of the dependants of such officers or other employees and the granting of superannuation allowances, annuities and pensions payable out of such funds;
(g) the conduct and defence of legal proceedings by or against the corresponding new bank and the manner of signing pleadings;
(h) the provision of a seal for the corresponding new bank and the manner and effect of its use;
(i) the form and manner in which contracts binding on the corresponding new bank may be executed;
(j) the conditions and the requirements subject to which loans or advances may be made or bills may be discounted or purchased by the corresponding new bank;
(k) the persons or authorities who shall administer any pension, provident or other fund constituted for the benefit of officers or other employees of the corresponding new bank or their dependants;
(l) the preparation and submission of statements of programmes of activities and financial statements of the corresponding new bank and the period for which and the time within which such statements and estimates are to be prepared and submitted; and
(m) generally for the efficient conduct of the affairs of the corresponding new bank. (3) Until any regulation is made under sub-section (1), the articles of association of the existing bank and every regulation, rule, bye-law or order made by the existing bank shall, if in force at the commencement of this Act, be deemed to be the regulations made under sub-section (1) and shall have effect accordingly and any reference therein to any authority of the existing bank shall be deemed to be a reference to the corresponding authority of the corresponding new bank and until any such corresponding authority is constituted under this Act, shall be deemed to refer to the Custodian.
3 [(4) Every regulation shall, as soon as may be after it is made under this Act by the Board of directors, of a corresponding new bank, be forwarded to the Central Government and that Government shall cause a copy of the same to be laid before each House of Parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in making any modification in the regulation or both Houses agree that the regulation should not be made, the regulation shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that regulation.]
How courts have applied section 19
- Disciplinary proceedings are initiated on issuance of a charge-sheet, not on a show cause notice, for the deemed-continuance fiction in service regulations.1,2
- The fifteen-year period for restoring commuted pension is integral to the commutation scheme and is enforceable although the amount is numerically recovered earlier.3,4
- A pre-notified-date pension option remains valid despite later compulsory retirement where the officer had exercised the option before the notified date.5
- Forfeiture of gratuity for misconduct does not require a criminal conviction where the penalty is compulsory retirement.6,7
- If the appointing authority does not communicate refusal of voluntary retirement within the notice period, retirement takes effect automatically.8
- Family pension entitlement under pension regulations does not depend on the employee having exercised the option for pension accrual.9
- Courts will not substitute their assessment of interview merit in promotion disputes when the selection process was not found perverse.10
Read the full overviewShow less· 3 paragraphs
The judgements here are largely service-law disputes between nationalised banks and their officers or employees, decided under the regulations the Board makes under Section 19. Most turn on the construction of specific regulations--pension, gratuity, discipline and retirement--rather than on the scope of the rule-making power itself. Courts treated the regulations as subordinate legislation with the force of law, and interpreted clauses such as deemed-continuance fictions, option windows and forfeiture provisions against the background of the governing statute.11,1,2,12,10,5,13,9
A recurring question is when disciplinary proceedings are deemed to be pending so that an officer does not cease to be in service on superannuation; the consistent answer is that initiation requires a charge-sheet, not a mere show cause notice. In pension matters, courts upheld the commutation-restoration period of fifteen years as a deliberate offset to the lump-sum advantage and mortality risk, and refused to limit recovery to the numerically shorter period. On gratuity, forfeiture for misconduct or conviction was applied even without a criminal conviction where compulsory retirement was imposed as a penalty, while in other cases no provision of the conduct or service regulations was found to extend to retired employees.1,2,3,4,6,7,14
In several instances the courts set aside bank orders for want of a proper option or procedure: a pre-notified-date pension option was preserved though the officer was later compulsorily retired; an uncommunicated refusal of voluntary retirement made the retirement automatic; and removal after an ex-parte inquiry where the appellate authority acted beyond the prescribed period was quashed. Where the employee succeeded after removal, pension was granted only from the date of claim, not the punishment order, and an option missed while out of service was excused on impossibility. Courts refused to re-evaluate comparative merit in promotion interviews, and declined to interfere where a participant did not challenge the selection of successful candidates or where an alternative statutory remedy was available.5,8,15,13,16,10,17
By court
Outcomes
Judgements applying section 19
VRS 2000 voluntary retirement scheme public sector banks; Regulation 29(5) Pension Regulations 1995 five years notional/qualifying service weightage for optees with 20 years service; Regulation 28 proviso amendment retrospective from 1.9.2000 meant for 15-to-under-20-years employees;
DismissedOpenService law - disciplinary proceedings initiated after superannuation - Regulation 20(3)(iii) of the UCO Bank Officer Employees Services Regulations, 1979 creates a legal fiction under which an officer against whom disciplinary proceedings have been initiated ceases to be in service on superannuation but proceedings…
DismissedOpenUCO Bank v. M.B. Motwani (dead) thr. LRs., 2023 INSC 908, [2023] 16 SCR 525: interpretation of Regulation 20(3)(iii) deeming provision in the 1979 UCO Bank Officer's Service Regulations; disciplinary proceeding initiated only by chargesheet, not show cause notice;
DismissedOpenBank of India and Others versus United Bank of India Retirees’ Welfare Association and Others etc.
Outcome: Partly allowedSupreme Court (Lalit, J.) allowed the bank's appeals and dismissed the retirees' writ petition, upholding differential dearness relief: pre-01.11.2002 bank retirees on a tapering formula versus post-01.11.2002 retirees at a flat 0.18%.
Partly allowedOpenPawan Kumar v. Allahabad Bank / Indian Bank — W.P.(C) 12329/2019 & W.P.(C) 7539/2022 (Delhi HC, 06.02.2026, Sanjeev Narula J): bank officer's challenge to non-promotion MMG Scale III to SMG Scale IV (merit lists/results 2019-2023) dismissed; non-joinder of promoted officers as necessary parties;
Writ Petition (Civil)OpenDelhi High Court, W.P.(C) 213/2020, Sanjeev Narula J., decided 25 April 2026. Sitaram Aggarwal, former PNB Civil Engineer/Manager (compulsorily retired 31.01.1995, effective 24.02.1995), sought treatment as a pension optee under the PNB (Employees') Pension Regulations, 1995 based on his option dated 30.09.1994 under…
Writ Petition (Civil)Open
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Post-retirement disciplinary proceedings void ab initio; charge memo issued after acceptance of voluntary retirement (VRS) without jurisdiction; Regulation 45 & 48 Bank of Baroda Pension Regulations 1995; withdrawal of one-third pension not a permissible penalty under Regulation 4 DA Regulations;
AllowedOpenAllahabad High Court (J.J. Munir, J.; Neutral Citation 2025:AHC:44806; order date 01.04.2025) dismissed a batch of 37 writ petitions (lead: Writ-A No.12596 of 2024, Sudhir Kumar Agarwal v.
Canara Bank retired employees; commuted pension restoration 15-year rule; Regulation 41(4) commutation value table; Regulation 41(5) restoration of commuted portion after fifteen years; 9 years 10 months restoration claim rejected; refund of excess recovery denied;
DismissedOpenA discharged Canara Bank employee claimed pension despite Regulation 22 forfeiture of past service on removal. Relying on Bank of Baroda v. S.K. Kool, the High Court held he was entitled to pension but limited it to the period after his 19.04.2010 claim.
DisposedOpenThe Court held that an employee removed from service due to disciplinary proceedings, later vindicated, could avail pension benefits under a specific 2010 Circular by condoning the option period, as he was under a legal disability preventing compliance.
DisposedOpenCanara Bank and Anr. Vs Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (Central)Kolkata and Appellate Authority and Ors.
Outcome: DisposedThemes: gratuity computation dispute in public sector banking; Canara Bank (Officers') Service Regulations, 1979, Regulation 46(2) first proviso ('one half of a month's pay' per year beyond 30 years' service) contested reading as 'one and a half month's pay';
DisposedOpen
The General Manager (Hrm) Bank of Maharashtra, Pune Vs Prakash Vishnu Shinde and Others
Outcome: AllowedForfeiture of gratuity; Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 Section 4(6)(a) and 4(6)(b)(ii); offence involving moral turpitude; conviction by competent court not required; compulsory retirement by way of punishment equals termination of service; post-superannuation disciplinary proceedings;
AllowedOpenThe General Manager (Hrm) Bank of Maharashtra, Pune Vs Prakash Vishnu Shinde and Others
Outcome: AllowedForfeiture of gratuity; Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 Section 4(6)(a) and 4(6)(b)(ii); offence involving moral turpitude; conviction by competent court not required; compulsory retirement by way of punishment equals termination of service; post-superannuation disciplinary proceedings;
AllowedOpenA bank challenged an award deeming a workman retired on expiry of three months from his voluntary retirement application, since no written refusal was communicated under Clause 29 of the Pension Regulations.
DismissedOpenBank disciplinary proceeding — removal from service for unauthorised absence during medical emergency (left-leg fracture; viral hepatitis) quashed; reinstatement with full back wages. High Court at Calcutta, Circuit Bench at Jalpaiguri, Jay Sengupta, J., WPA 379 of 2024, judgment on 07.10.2024;
DisposedOpenIn this writ petition, the Allahabad High Court held that the petitioner, widow of a deceased Bank of Baroda employee, is entitled to family pension under the Bank of Baroda (Employees') Pension Regulations, 1995. The court ruled that the option clause for employees does not bar family pension entitlement.
AllowedOpenThe High Court dismissed a special appeal challenging Single Judge orders that refused to entertain a writ petition under Article 226 regarding a bank employee's punishment due to availability of alternative statutory appeal under the Bank's internal Regulations.
DismissedOpen
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This intra-court appeal challenged a transfer order moving a Deputy Manager from Karnataka Zone to Bhopal Zone, allegedly violating the Bank's policy requiring transfers to adjacent zones.
DismissedOpenTwo appeals challenging the validity of pension reductions by 1/3rd imposed on employees compulsorily retired from Central Bank of India. The court held that Regulation 33 mandates prior Board consultation for such cuts, which the Bank failed to undertake, allowing the appeals and directing pension restoration.
Two appeals challenging the reduction of compulsory retirement pension by one-third. The High Court held that prior consultation with the Board of Directors was mandatory under Regulation 33(2) and that delegation to trustees or officers was invalid as no specific regulations were made under the Act.
The Patna HC dismissed a writ petition seeking quashing of an order denying pension eligibility. The Court held that the amended Pension Regulations requiring 15 years of service superseded earlier retirement benefits, and the petitioner did not meet the requisite service period.
DismissedOpen