ORDER
K. Sreedhar Rao, J.
The Petitioner retired from the services of the Respondent as Assistant Manager with effect from 31-5-01. In respect of disbursement of some of the loans made by the Petitioner during his services is the subject matter of a criminal proceedings in Special Case No. 74/01 and Special Case No. 75/01 pending on the file of Special Court for CBI cases, Bangalore. The Petitioner seeks the payment of gratuity and commutation of pension and other pensionary benefits payable with interest at 12% from the date of retirement till the payment.
2. Per contra the Respondent rely on the Regulation 46 of the State Bank of Mysore Employees’ (Pension) Regulations, 1995 which reads thus:
“46. Provisional pension-(1) An employee who has retired on attaining the age of superannuation or otherwise and against whom any departmental or judicial proceeding are instituted or where departmental proceedings are continued, a provisional pension, equal to the maximum pension which would have been admissible to him, would be allowed subject to adjustment against final retirement benefits sanctioned to him, upon conclusion of the proceedings but no recovery shall be made where the pension finally sanctioned is less than the provisional pension or the pension is reduced or withheld etc., either permanently or for a specified period.
(2) In such cases the gratuity shall not be paid to such an employee until the conclusion of the proceedings against him. The gratuity shall be paid to him on conclusion of the proceedings subject to the decision of the proceeding. Any recoveries to be made from an employee shall be adjusted against the amount of gratuity payable.
Explanation-In this chapter-
(a) the expression “serious crime” includes a crime involving an offence under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923):
(b) the expression “grave misconduct” includes the communication or disclosure of any secret official code or password or any sketch, plan, model, article, note, document or information, such as is mentioned in Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923) which was obtained while holding office in the Bank so as to prejudicially affect the interests of the general public or the security of the State.
(c) The expression “fraudulently” shall have the meaning assigned to it under Section 25 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (45 of 1860):
(d) The expression “Criminal breach of trust” shall have the meaning assigned to it under Section 405 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (45 of 1860):
(e) The expression “forgery” shall have the meaning assigned to it under Section 463 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (45 of 1860).
The phrase “judicial proceedings” used in Regulation 46 would mean any proceedings instituted before the Court relatable and connected with employment. The sub-clause (2) of the Regulation mandates that the gratuity shall not be paid until the conclusion of the proceedings mentioned in Clause (1). The criminal case is evidently pending and yet to be disposed of.
3. The contention of the Petitioner that the words “judicial proceedings” would mean only the cases instituted by the Bank against the employees and does not include the criminal prosecution launched by the state is untenable unless the subject matter of criminal proceedings is connected with the employment. The regulation, does not permit for payment of gratuity until conclusion of the “judicial proceedings”.
4. It is true that the delayed trial is acting harshly upon the petitioner. Almost 4 years have elapsed. The case is yet to be disposed of. In order to meet the ends of justice, it is directed that the Special Judge, City Civil Court (C.B.I. Court) Bangalore should dispose of the case at the earliest and within six months from the date of this order.
A copy of the order to be transmitted to the Special Judge, City Civil Court (C.B.I. Court) Bangalore.