Telangana High Court Orders Indian Bank to Pay Dues to Family of Missing Employee

 Hyderabad: Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka of the Telangana High Court directed Indian Bank to extend terminal benefits to the family of an employee who went missing two decades ago, and to provide compassionate appointment to one of his children.

The case concerns V. Francees, who joined the bank in 1991 and was promoted as assistant manager in New Delhi on February 17, 2004. He served in his new role for seven months before going missing on September 30 that year. The bank issued a chargesheet against him and later compulsorily retired him from service.

After a missing complaint was lodged at Janakpuri police station in Delhi in May 2008, a report dated September 1, 2010, confirmed that Francees remained untraceable. His wife subsequently obtained a legal heir certificate in December 2012 through a local court, which recognised her and her children as legal heirs. She then applied for settlement of retirement benefits and compassionate appointment for one of her children, but the bank failed to respond.

Hearing the matter, Justice Bheemapaka observed that under Section 108 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, a person not heard of for over seven years was presumed dead. The court noted that this principle applied squarely to the present case.

Taking into account Francees’s wife’s medical condition as a cancer patient, the judge emphasised the need for the bank to act with sympathy and fairness. Accordingly, the court directed Indian Bank to release terminal and consequential benefits within eight weeks and to provide compassionate appointment to one eligible child. The court also imposed the cost of `50 ,000 on bank for causing distress to the aggrieved family. The amount is to be paid to the Sainik Welfare at Hyderabad.