Vigilance scrutiny: 'Sword of Damocles' for public-sector bankers

The word 'vigilance' is a dreaded term for PSB employees, and there are instances of this fear being misused by the higher authorities

Last year, a chief manager of a public-sector bank (PSB) in Rajasthan was served a notice a day before he was to retire. The charge related to an alleged fraud in financing a real-estate project in 2022. Following a departmental enquiry which had lasted close to two years, quite a few bankers at different levels in this PSB — directly or indirectly related with the process of sanction and disbursement of loan —  had come under vigilance scrutiny.

 

For the chief manager, this was the first chargesheet in his unblemished 35-year career. As he had no time left before retirement