Srinagar- If application of Voluntary Retirement from service is moved by an employee and gets accepted before the date of retirement , the employee has the right to withdraw the request for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), Central Administrative Tribunal has held.
“The general principle regarding resignation is that in the absence of a legal, contractual or constitutional bar, a ‘prospective’ resignation can be withdrawn at any time before it becomes effective, and it becomes effective when it operates to terminate the employment or the office tenure of the resignor,” said a bench of M.S.Latif (Member, Judicial) and Prasant Kumar (Member, Admin) while referring to the Supreme Court of India’s judgement.
“..if VRS is moved by an employee and gets accepted before the date of retirement is reached, the employee has the right to withdraw the request for VRS,” the bench said.
The CAT was hearing a plea by a woman employee, Nayeema Ahmad Mehjoor who after completing more than 20 years of service in All India Radio, gave her letter of VRS on 17 May 1999, expressing her desire to retire voluntarily w.e.f. 1 April 2000 particularly when the leave was sanctioned in her favour till 31 March 2000. Then by another request letter dated 10 January 2000 she requested for withdrawal of her notice for VRS.
However, the authorities issued two back-to-back orders, one dated 21 March 2000 and another on
22 March 2000, declining her request for withdrawal of VRS notice and affecting the same from 1 April 2000 respectively.
“Admittedly, the effect, for VRS was to be given from 01-04-2000 (F/N) which established that the applicant on the date of withdrawal of her request till the issuance of the order impugned was in the jural relationship with the respondents and had not ceased to be the employee of the respondents,” the CAT said, adding, “The applicant as such was within her right to withdraw the request for VRS before 01.04.2000 (F/N) as the request of withdrawal was prior to the last date fixed in the order impugned i.e., 01.04.2000.”
Subsequently, the CAT held that authorities could not have refused to accept the withdrawal letter of the woman employee as it was sent before the “jural relationship of the applicant (woman) came to an end.”
“..unless concerned employee is relieved of duties after acceptance of the offer of VRS or resignation, jural relationship of the employer and the employee does not come to an end,” the CAT said and subsequently quashed orders by virtue of which the woman was not treated in service till the date of actual superannuation (read 31 August 2015).
However, the CAT declined the employee’s plea seeking payment of salary till date of superannuation on the principle of ‘No work no pay’, underlining that she had not actually worked during that period.
Nevertheless, the CAT said that period shall be counted for the purpose of calculation of pension to be computed by the authorities in accordance with rules.
“Since the applicant has been litigating since past 24 years it is expected that the respondents will do the needful with due dispatch, preferably within a period of 10 (Ten) weeks from the date a copy of the judgment is served upon the respondent Department,” the CAT added.
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