Voluntary retirement takes effect on the date specified in the notice, barring salary thereafter.

The applicant, a Senior Translator (Level-8) in the North Eastern Railway, submitted an application dated 31 August 2022 seeking voluntary retirement with effect from 30 November 2022.

He remained absent on medical grounds from 17 October 2022 and resumed duty on 26 December 2022 after obtaining a fitness certificate.

His absence was regularised as commuted leave up to the date of voluntary retirement.

The respondents formally accepted his voluntary retirement by office order dated 27 December 2022, retrospectively with effect from 30 November 2022, as requested by him.

The applicant claimed that he continued working until 3 January 2023 and sought salary for 34 days, along with an increment and interest.

The respondents disputed his entitlement on the ground that his service had ended on 30 November 2022.

1. Whether the applicant was entitled to salary for the period after 30 November 2022 on the basis that he allegedly continued to work after that date?

2. Whether the delayed communication of the order accepting voluntary retirement entitled the applicant to continue in service or claim salary beyond the effective date of retirement?

3. Whether the applicant was entitled to any consequential increment, interest, or other relief?

The Tribunal exercised jurisdiction under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.

It applied paragraph 11.4 of Railway Master Circular No. 35 on Retirement, under which a Railway servant who gives notice of voluntary retirement may presume acceptance, where approval is required, and the retirement becomes effective in terms of the notice unless the competent authority issues an order to the contrary before expiry of the notice period.

The governing principle applied was that voluntary retirement takes effect from the date specified in the employee’s notice when the competent authority accepts it with that effective date; subsequent administrative communication does not extend the employee’s service.

The applicant himself sought voluntary retirement with effect from 30 November 2022, and the competent authority accepted the request with the same effective date.

Under paragraph 11.4 of Railway Master Circular No. 35, the retirement therefore operated from 30 November 2022, notwithstanding that the acceptance was communicated only on 27 December 2022.

The Tribunal held that the regularisation of the applicant’s medical absence as commuted leave could operate only up to his last day of service, namely 30 November 2022; it could not create an entitlement to leave or salary after retirement.

Any alleged attendance or work after that date could not override the legally effective date of voluntary retirement.

The Original Application was dismissed for want of merit.

All pending miscellaneous applications, if any, were also dismissed, with no order as to costs.