In a recent case, the Supreme Court of India has given a verdict in the favour of a railway employee and directed the railway authorities to reinstate him. The Supreme Court held that his resignation was in effect withdrawn before it was accepted. This leading case underscores the need to use formal means to communicate acceptance of an employee’s resignation.
The case was of S. D. Manohara, who had worked with the Konkan Railway for more than 23 years. He handed in his resignation in December 2013 and said that he would step down in the following month. However, he withdrew the resignation on May 26, 2014, before his employer could officially accept it or not. However, the Railways dismissed him from service on July 1, 2014, on grounds of absenteeism without permission.
The apex court’s bench, consisting of Justices PS Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal, reversed the previous judgment of the Karnataka High Court, which was in favour of Railways. The justices pointed out that internal communications on the acceptance of resignation do not amount to acceptance of resignation if not communicated to the employee. They pointed out that the Railways had been interacting with Manohara after her resignation, which they said was not complete.
The verdict says, “The respondent-employer strongly relies on the letter of acceptance of resignation dated 15.04.2014 and submits that it has come into effect from 07.04.2014. We are inclined to accept the submission made by the appellant that the letter dated 15.04.2014 is an internal communication. There is no clear evidence about the service of such a letter on the appellant. Further, it is also not denied that the appellant has been continuously in touch with the respondent.”
He was ordered to be re-employed within 30 days and was paid 50% of his wages for the period of time between the dismissal and the reinstatement. This ruling thus re-establishes that an employee’s resignation is still hanging in the balance until the employer accepts it, thus protecting the rights of workers in such circumstances.
