Kasturi Lal Sagar vs D.A.V. College of Education, Hoshiarpur and Others

Jawahar Lal Gupta, J.—The appellant was recruited as a Lecturer in Mathematics at the D.A.V. College of Education, Hoshiarpur, on October 29, 1981. After more than five years, he was transferred to D.A.V. Degree College, Hoshiarpur, vide order, dated July 29, 1997. An incident occurred. The appellant alleges that he was slapped by the President of the managing committee and even certain proceedings were initiated against him. The incident was reported in the press. While the proceedings were in progress, the management claimed that it had accepted the appellant''s resignation and did not permit him to perform his duties. He filed Civil Writ Petition No. 10504 of 1989 in this Court. The petitioner was relegated to his remedy under the provisions of the Punjab Affiliated College (Security of Service) Act, 1974. Consequently, the petitioner initiated proceedings before the Director of Public Instruction (Colleges), Punjab, Chandigarh.

Vide order, dated April 4, 1991, the Director held that the plea of college that the petitioner had resigned "cannot be accepted". Accordingly, it was declared that the appellant "continues to be in the service of this college". A copy of this order is on record as Annexure P-21.

Aggrieved by this order, the college along with the managing committee, etc., filed Civil Writ Petition No. 6452 of 1991. The writ petition having been accepted, the teacher has filed the present letters patent appeal.

The short submission made by the learned counsel for the appellant is that in fact he had not resigned from the post of Lecturer. Actually, an undated resignation had been obtained from the appellant at the time of his joining service. However, even if it is assumed that the appellant had actually submitted the resignation on June 25, 1988, the date on which it purports to have been received by the respondent institution, it was a notice of three months. The resignation would have been effective on September 24, 1988. The appellant had actually withdrawn it vide his letter, dated July 19, 1988. Consequently, there was nothing which could have been accepted by the respondent institution.

The claim made on behalf of the appellant has been controverted by Sri G. C. Gupta, learned counsel for respondents 1 to 3. He has contended that the resignation had been voluntarily tendered and the appellant having failed to withdraw it before its acceptance, he was rightly relieved of his duties by the management.

A copy of the letter of resignation is at Annexure P-12 with the paper book. It reads as under :

"Most respectfully, I beg to submit that due to some unavoidable circumstances, I cannot continue serving your college, so, kindly accept my resignation. Please treat this as a three month notice from today.

Thanking you,&NBSP &NBSP&NBSP &NBSP&NBSP &NBSP&NBSP &NBSP Yours faithfully, ,&NBSP &NBSP&NBSP &NBSP&NBSP &NBSP&NBSP &NBSP (sd/-), &NBSP &NBSP&NBSP &NBSP Kasturi Lal Sagar, Lect. in Teaching of Maths".,&NBSP &NBSP

The following endorsements appear on it :

"Received today

(sd.) &NBSP &NBSP&NBSP &NBSP Kasturi Lal Sagar, Darshan Sharma, &NBSP&NBSP 25.6.1988 &NBSP &NBSP Kasturi Lal Sagar, Resignation accepted. (Sd.) &NBSP &NBSP&NBSP &NBSP K. Choudhary".

A perusal of the above shows that the appellant had given three months'' notice to the college. The document was received by Darshan Sharma on June 25, 1988. Assuming that the resignation had been tendered on that date, the period of three months would have expired on September 24, 1988. The resignation would have been effective from September 25, 1988. It was withdrawn by the appellant vide letter, dated July 19, 1988, a copy of which has been produced on the record as Annexure R-3 with the written statement filed by the respondents. In this letter, the appellant had stated that he had "never resigned" and that even if "there is any resignation written by me I withdraw the same forthwith".

The short question that arises for consideration is could the appellant not withdraw his resignation before September 24, 1988 ?

learned single Judge held as under :

"The resignation could be accepted any time within three months, but the effect could be given after three months of its submission. The only right with the respondent was to withdraw the same before the same had been accepted. He had no right to withdraw the same after it had been accepted though the effective date of his quitting the job would be three months from the day he submitted his resignation".

It is true as found by the learned single Judge that the management could have accepted his resignation at any time within three months but effect could be given only after the expiry of this period. However, in our view, the learned single Judge was not right in holding that the respondent could have withdrawn the resignation only before its acceptance. The appellant had the right to withdraw it before the expiry of the three months'' period stipulated in the notice. The appellant''s intention or proposal was to resign from a future specified date. The request could be withdrawn by him before it could actually become effective. The appellant''s request was inchoate till September 24, 1988. He was at liberty to withdraw it. He had actually done so. That being so, there was nothing done by the appellant by which he could be deemed to have relinquished his rights on the post.

No other point has been raised.

In view of the above, the appeal is allowed. The judgment of the learned single Judge is set aside. The writ petition is dismissed. Respondents 1 to 3 are directed to reinstate the appellant forthwith. Since the appellant has not performed the duties of the post of Lecturer in Mathematics, we hold that he shall be entitled to 50 per cent. of the arrears of salary. In the circumstances of the case, we make no order as to costs.

Appeal allowed.