Resignation Withdrawn Before Acceptance: Supreme Court Orders Reinstatement with 50% Back Wages

What the Supreme Court Decided

The dispute concerned whether the employee's resignation had become final before he withdrew it. The Supreme Court observed that withdrawal of a resignation before its acceptance is an established principle of service law, but expressly noted that its adjudication in this case was intended to resolve the long-standing dispute between the parties rather than to lay down a new precedent.

After examining the correspondence and the employee's continued connection with service, the Court concluded that the resignation had not resulted in a final severance of employment before the withdrawal. It therefore set aside the judgment of the Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court.

Facts and Timeline

• 5 December 2013: The employee tendered resignation and stated that it should take effect after one month.
• 15 April 2014: Konkan Railway relied on a communication stating that the resignation had been accepted with effect from 7 April 2014.
• April-May 2014: The record showed continuing correspondence concerning leave, reporting for duty and requests that the resignation not be accepted.
• 26 May 2014: The employee formally sought withdrawal of the resignation.
• 23 June 2014: Konkan Railway rejected the request to withdraw the resignation.
• 1 July 2014: The employee was treated as relieved from service.
• 13 September 2024: The Supreme Court allowed the employee's appeal and ordered reinstatement with 50% back wages.
• 25 November 2025: The Supreme Court dismissed Konkan Railway's review petition and left the relief unchanged.

Why the Resignation Was Treated as Withdrawn in Time

The employer contended that the resignation had already been accepted before the employee's withdrawal request. The employee argued that the 15 April 2014 communication was an internal communication and that he continued to be treated as connected with service thereafter.

In the subsequent review proceedings, the Supreme Court clarified the position further. It held that the final railway letters dated 23 June 2014, 1 July 2014 and 15 July 2014 conclusively showed that the resignation was accepted with effect from 1 July 2014. Since the employee had withdrawn his resignation on 26 May 2014, the withdrawal preceded the effective acceptance and relieving from service.

Relief Granted to the Employee

The Supreme Court directed that the employee be reinstated within 30 days. It awarded 50% of salary for the period from 1 July 2014 until reinstatement and directed payment of that amount within two months. The period was also directed to be counted for pensionary benefits, if any.

Legal Principle on Withdrawal of Resignation

The judgment refers to the settled proposition that, subject to the governing service rules and the facts of the case, a resignation can ordinarily be withdrawn before it is accepted or becomes effective. The Supreme Court referred to earlier decisions including Union of India v. Gopal Chandra Misra, Balram Gupta v. Union of India, Srikantha S.M. v. Bharath Earth Movers Ltd., Air India Express Ltd. v. Captain Gurdarshan Kaur Sandhu and Suman Jain v. Marwadi Sammelan.

The decision should therefore be read with the applicable service rules, the terms of the resignation, the date and manner of acceptance, communication to the employee, and the effective date of relieving. The Supreme Court itself stated that this case was being resolved on its particular facts rather than as a vehicle for laying down a new rule of law.

Review Petition Dismissed in 2025

Konkan Railway argued in review that the 15 April 2014 acceptance communication had in fact been communicated to the employee and that the Court had incorrectly treated parts of the correspondence. It also questioned the award of 50% back wages on the basis of the principle of "no work, no pay".

The Supreme Court found that those contentions did not change the result. It held that the final letters established acceptance with effect from 1 July 2014 and that the withdrawal dated 26 May 2014 was earlier. The review petition was accordingly dismissed, with parties bearing their own costs.

Download the Judgment

The original judgment dated 13 September 2024 is available below from the existing site PDF.