New Delhi, March 23: The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by the Life Insurance Corporation challenging the reinstatement of an officer who was instrumental in issuing a policy for a dead man.

R. Suresh, an LIC development officer, has been out of service since 1987. “He has already suffered a lot (because of) being out of service for more than 20 years. All courts have held in his favour. This appeal is dismissed,” the apex court said.

Suresh was sacked after departmental proceedings found he had been lax and careless. According to the inquiry, Suresh, who was posted in Thiruvananthapuram , had been negligent in performing his duties as he did not verify the details of the person concerned and relied wholly upon the representation of the agent.

Although he was exonerated of the charge of forging the dead man’s signature, he was dismissed from service on April 19, 1989.

Suresh went to the industrial tribunal that found his dismissal too harsh as he had “deliberately not secured the policy but everything happened due to his carelessness”.

There was no monetary loss to the LIC and there was no other complaint against him during his two years in the management post, the tribunal said.