Judgment dated 13th September 2024
Cause title : S.D. MANOHARA VS KONKAN RAILWAY CORPORATION LIMITED & ORS
Case No: SLP(C) No. 15778/2021
A Bench of Supreme Court Judges Hon'ble Mr. JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA and Hon'ble JUSTICE PANKAJ MITHAL directed that the petitioner be reinstated into service within thirty days from the date of order and he shall be entitled to receive 50 percent of salary for the period he is said to have been relieved from service.
Facts of the case are:
The appellant has been in service of the respondent since 1990.
After having put in 13 years of service, he tendered his resignation
on 05.12.2013 stating that it may be considered as coming into
effect on expiry of one month. On the question whether this
resignation letter was withdrawn before its acceptance, there are a
number of letters and instances cited by the appellant and the
respondent as well, but the crucial letters that would clinch the
issue are just four in number.
The respondent states that the letter of resignation was accepted on
15.04.2014 w.e.f from 07.04.2014. Respondent further states that the
appellant sought to withdraw his resignation dated 05.12.2013 only
on 26.05.2014, which could not be accepted and therefore, they have
rejected the request on 23.06.2014 and relieved the appellant w.e.f.
01.07.2014. On the other hand, the appellant's primary submission
was that the letter dated 15.04.2014 was never issued to him. It was
only an internal communication of the respondent. He further submits
that the said communication dated 15.04.2014 was not even marked to
the appellant and it has no reference to appellant's resignation
letter dated 05.12.2013.
That, it is an internal communication is also evidenced by the fact
that it does not fix any date for relieving, instead it directed
necessary action like no dues certificate etc. to be given to the
appellant before relieving him. Importantly, the appellant fortifies
his case by stating that he continued in service despite the initial
letter dated 05.12.2013 and had in fact reported on 19.05.2014. He
relied on letter dated 10.05.2014 issued by the respondent directing
him to report to duty pursuant to his application dated 24.04.2014
for casual leave for two days i.e. for 25th and 26th of April 2014.
He also relied on letters of his wife dated 17.04.2014 and
20.05.2014 requesting the respondent not to accept her husband's
resignation. A certificate of competency issued by the respondent
stating that the appellant is competent to take the Engineering
Block is also relied on by the respondent employer.
Direction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court while allowing the appeal is as under:
13. In view of the above, and in the facts and the circumstances
of the case, we allow the appeal and set-aside the judgment of the
Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka in Bengaluru in Writ
Appeal No. 3982 of 2019 (S-RES).
13.1 In the facts and circumstances of the case, we direct that the
appellant shall be reinstated into service within thirty days from
the date of our order. He shall however be entitled to receive 50
percent of salary for the period he is said to have been relieved
from service i.e. from 01.07.2014 under letter dated 23.06.2014 to
the date of reinstatement, pursuant to our orders. The amount shall
be calculated and paid within a period of two months from today.
This period shall however be counted for pensionary benefits, if
any.
Download Judgment dated 13th September 2024 in S.D. MANOHARA VS KONKAN RAILWAY CORPORATION LIMITED & ORS, SLP(C) No. 15778/202.