The apex court's order stated that officers promoted since 1988 must complete the two-year mandatory service in rural areas and another year in semi-urban branches of the bank.

The officers had protested against this rule of the bank and challenged it in the Supreme Court in 1988, following which the mandatory rural transfers came to a standstill.

SBI's management, now armed with the apex court's decision, has threatened to strip off designations and remunerations of those opposing such transfers. ``And they are also threatening to call back the existing pre-requisites with retrospective effect,'' said a SBI officer. ``Even voluntary retirements have been denied till one has completed the rural postings. There are over 1200 officers in Mumbai circlealone due for rural postings but vacancies matching their grades are just not in existence, insiders allege. The management is just posting officers to any branch that qualify rural criteria, they added.

Some senior management officials on conditions of anonymity, said the transfers were as per government guidelines for rural exposure and they were merely implementing the Supreme Court order which came in after an eight- year long legal battle. The official version of the management was, however, not forthcoming despite several attempts by The Financial Express.

Last year, state-owned Canara Bank--faced with a similar situation-- impressed upon the Government that rural postings retrospectively were not possible despite the SC verdict and managed to bring about the rural postings prospectively.

SBI officers are upset with the management for not following the viewpoint taken by Canara Bank.

SBI officers said they were not protesting against the transfers, but the failure of the bank to ensure that theywere given adequate opportunity to complete the required assignments in time.

In fact officers due for retirement this month are also directed to work in such branches, refusal of which will mean a steep cut in retirement dues. In effect it means, the management will calculate the benifits according to the designation held by the officer in 1988.

``The management is blindly following the SC order and directing senior officers to work in rural/semi-urban branches headed by junior officers,'' said a Scale-III officer.

``These are mismatched postings,'' said V Jayaraman, the general secretary of the State Bank of India Officer's Association, Mumbai Circle.

``When we talk of extended banking hours, holiday banking etc, with the exisiting skeleton staff what is the need for a senior officer to work in a rural branch under a junior officer,'' he said. ``We have an Assistant General Manager (AGM, Scale V officer) at Navghar branch in Vasai, near Mumbai fulfilling his rural obligation under a Scale IIofficer,''Jayaraman said. ``The Scale II officer dare not to ask him (the AGM) to work,'' he said.

``What the management ought to do is to convince the government that the postings are not possible retrospectively,'' he added.