IBPS may draw up reserve list but not fill vacancies, says court

Court wants selection body to get its okay before appointing probationary officers and management trainees in banks

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 19

The Bombay High Court has allowed the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) and concerned banks to prepare a reserve list for 2017-18 for appointment of probationary officers or management trainees.

But the Division Bench of Justice Shantanu S Kemkar and Justice MS Karnik ordered that no post from this reserve list shall be filled up without its permission.

Interim order

The IBPS or concerned banks “may go on with the selection process for the year 2017-18, may appoint candidates and prepare a reserve list but no post from the said reserve list will be filled up without leave of this court,” the interim order said.

This came in response to a writ petition filed by a group of 40 petitioners who were placed in the reserve list by IBPS for the post of probationary officers or management trainees for the 2016-17 financial year.

The petitioners, hailing from all parts of the country, had approached the court after they were denied employment by IBPS despite having huge number of non-joining vacancies in the participating public sector banks (PSBs).

Approximately 10 per cent of the total candidates selected in the first round of allotment in each category are kept in the reserve list for these posts. They are usually given appointment orders in the next financial year.

The non-joining vacancies are filled from the reserve list. The provisional allotment of reserve list candidates is done on March 31 every year.

RTI response

More than 1,000 non-joining vacancies were left unfilled even after recruiting from the reserve list, which is more than the number of candidates who were denied jobs, the petitioners had argued.

This was also revealed in RTI responses given by participating PSBs. Despite having a huge number of non-joining vacancies, many of them said they didn’t intend to recruit in 2016-17. But they were found actively recruiting for 2017-18.

The banks which refused to recruit from the reserve list, despite having enough number of non-joining vacancies, include Punjab National Bank, Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank, IDBI Bank and United Bank of India.

The five banks have a cumulative non-joining vacancies of 1,072, the petitioners said, citing RTI filings. Syndicate Bank had 355 vacancies; IDBI Bank, 361; Punjab National Bank, 130; United Bank, 89; and Corporation Bank, 71.

“We were hopeful of getting allotment and waited for a year,” said a petitioner. “Despite having vacancies, most banks decided not to recruit from the reserve list. For a few of us, it was the last chance to appear for the test,” the petitioner said.