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Madras High CourtWP/4499/2026disposed of with direction

Sharmila S v. General Manager

2026-02-09Honourable Mr Justice M.Dhandapani8 pages

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 09.02.2026

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.DHANDAPANI S.Sharmila ... Petitioner Vs.

1.The General Manager, HRM, UCO Bank Head Office, No.10, BTM Sarani, Kolkata-700 001.

2.Deputy General Manager and Zonal Head, UCO Bank, 328, Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai-600 001.

3.Assistant General Manager and Deputy Zonal Head, UCO Bank, UCO Bank, 328, Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai-600 001.

4.Senior Manager, HRM, UCO Bank, 328, Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai-600 001.

5.Chief Manager, Zonal Office, UCO Bank, 328, Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai-600 001. ....Respondents

PRAYER : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus, to direct the respondents to approve his sick leave and make full payment of salary for the period of 92 days from 19.09.2023 to 19.12.2023 that has been wrongly treated as 'loss of pay', due to a technical glitch in the HRMS portal. For Petitioner :

Ms.V.S.Saranya

O R D E R

This Writ Petition has been filed to direct the respondents to approve her sick leave and make full payment of salary for a period of 92 days from 19.09.2023 to 19.12.2023 that has been wrongly treated as 'loss of pay', due to a technical glitch in the HRMS portal.

2. The petitioner joined the respondents Bank on 23.07.2012 as Scale-II Manager and has rendered 12 years of service. During the year 2023, the petitioner became pregnant and was advised to take bed rest due to certain complications and therefore, she was unable to attend office. She applied for sick leave for a period from 19.09.2023 to 19.12.2023 to the Bank HRMS portal attaching necessary medical certificates. It is the claim

of the petitioner that as on date, the petitioner has available balance of 212 days of half-pay sick leave and that she has made application strictly in accordance with the service Regulations of the Bank. However, due to certain some malfunctions of the portal of the Bank, leave application of the petitioner was initially rejected and later could not be resubmitted despite repeated attempts. As per the oral instructions of the Chief Manager, she deleted the earlier application and attempted to re-apply. However, the system did not permit the re-submission. Therefore, she was unable to complete the process of re-submission of the leave application due to persistent technical glitch in HRMS system.

She has been driven from pillar to post when she made continuous efforts to resolve the issue by making several representations and emails to the Zonal Office and the Head Office between November 2023 and January 2024 and also she raised a formal grievance through HRMS Portal. Though the same was acknowledged internally, technical defect was never rectified. As a result, the entire period of 92 days was erroneously treated as Leave without pay, even though the petitioner had sufficient balance of sick leave.

3. Subsequently, the petitioner proceeded on maternity leave and applied for sabbatical leave and the said application was kept pending for several months and ultimately, it was rejected. Therefore, the petitioner was compelled to resign from service of the respondents Bank on 21.01.2025 and was relieved on 14.05.2025 and even after getting relieved from service of the respondents Bank, the petitioner continued to pursue her request for regularization of 92 days sick leave period as substantial amount was deducted from her terminal benefits. The claim of the petitioner is that under Regulation 34 of the UCO Bank (Officers') Service Regulations, the petitioner was entitled to avail sick leave on production of Medical Certificate and had adequate leave balance at the relevant point of time.

Therefore, the system fault cannot be attributed to the petitioner and the petitioner cannot be made to suffer the financial hardship due to the same. Even after repeated representations, the same were not considered and the respondents have responded in a routine manner to the petitioner thereby rejecting the claim for regularization of 92 days sick leave.

make full payment of salary for the period of 92 days from 19.09.2023 to 19.12.2023 that has been wrongly treated as 'loss of pay', due to a technical glitch in the HRMS portal.

4. Though very many grounds have been raised in the affidavit filed in support of this petition, when the matter is taken up for hearing today, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that it would suffice, if the second respondent is directed to dispose of the representation of the petitioner dated 24.11.2025 on merits and in accordance with law, within a specified period.

5. Since no adverse order is going to be passed against the respondents, notice to the respondents is dispensed with.

6. In view of the limited request made by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, this Court, without going into the merits of the case, directs the second respondent to consider the representation of the petitioner dated 24.11.2025 and pass appropriate orders on merits and in

accordance with law within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

7. With the above direction, this Writ Petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs.

09.02.2026 NCC: Yes / No Index : Yes / No Speaking Order : Yes / No ssb

To 1.The General Manager, HRM, UCO Bank Head Office, No.10, BTM Sarani, Kolkata-700 001.

2.Deputy General Manager and Zonal Head, UCO Bank, 328, Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai-600 001.

3.Assistant General Manager and Deputy Zonal Head, UCO Bank, UCO Bank, 328, Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai-600 001.

4.Senior Manager, HRM, UCO Bank, 328, Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai-600 001.

5.Chief Manager, Zonal Office, UCO Bank, 328, Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai-600 001.

M.DHANDAPANI, J.

ssb 09.02.2026