Sacked RBI employee wins case for declaring him dead

New Delhi, July 24: The Delhi High Court today granted a compensation of Rs 10,000 to a person who was erroneously declared by the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) as dead.

Justice Pradeep Nandrajog said ''Considering the circumstances under which the plaintiff found himself and having no reason to disbelieve when he states that he had become a butt of joke in his social circle, I award a damage of Rs 10,000.'' Dharam Pal was working as a sweeper with the RBI between May 14, 1990 and October 25, 2000 and his services were terminated.

According to the petition, Pal left for Moradabad without informing his wife and relatives.

On March 16, 2002, the RBI wrote a letter to the wife of Pal requesting her to collect some outstanding dues of late employee from its office.

The relatives of Pal including his wife performed death rituals presuming that he was dead on the basis of the letter from the RBI.

However, Pal resurfaced at his village and was made a butt of joke. He was addressed by the villagers as 'ghost' due to the mistake by the RBI, said the petition.

Pal filed a defamation suit before the High Court claiming Rs 50 lakh from the RBI and paid a court fees of Rs 51,140.

The Judge said in the order, ''For him it would be a case of operation successful, patient died. Even after winning the battle plaintiff would find himself out of pocket.''

UNI