The All India Bank Employees' Association has urged the Government to frame a set of rules and conduct regulations applicable to Executive Directors and Chairman and Managing Director of banks.
"If there be a rule for the entire staff of the bank, why not for the top executives?” asked the General Secretary of AIBEA C H Venkatachalam, adding “what is sauce for the goose must be for the gander too”.
The association's plea has come close on the heels of the arrest of S K Jain, CMD of Syndicate Bank, for alleged bribery.
Demanding stern action against corrupt executives, Venkatachalam said: “This is not the first time that top executives of banks seem to have indulged themselves in. Earlier, in the 90s, the CMD of UCO Bank was arrested for involvement in the Harshad Mehta scam. Some months ago, a top executive of State Bank of India was reported to have accepted bribe, but in the name of departmental action, the whole issue was buried. And in the case of United Bank of India, the then CMD was allowed to voluntarily retire, when huge sums of advances were reported to have turned bad due to wrongful decisions of the top management of the bank.”
He further pointed out that when the rules for taking action against ordinary bank employees and officers for any wrong doing or misconduct is well-defined, there were no clear rules for initiating action against CMDs and EDs, stressing the need for framing rules for top executives too.