RAMNATH P DESAI Vs. STATE OF GOA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition under article 226 of the Constitution has been filed, principally seeking for the issuance of a writ of mandamus commanding the respondents to allow the petitioner to continue in service by accepting his withdrawal of his option to take benefit under the Voluntary Retirement scheme and to reinstate the petitioner in service with full back wages and allow him to continue in service until he attains the age of superannuation. This petition came to be admitted by this Court on 31st January, 2001. However, no interim stay was granted to the petitioner.

(2.) THE facts, in brief, as are necessary to the decision of the petition, can be stated thus: the petitioner was working as an assistant Teacher in the "shri. Shantadurga high School," Bicholim-Goa. The said school, where the petitioner was working, is an aided school. By an Office Memorandum dated 15. 05. 2000, the Government introduced a Voluntary Retirement Scheme, hereinafter, referred to as "vrs", for the sake of brevity, on the terms and conditions set out in the said office Memorandum. By virtue of this Office memorandum, an employee who had completed 10 years' of qualifying service was allowed to seek voluntary retirement by a written request to the Appointing Authority. The scheme further provided that acceptance or refusal of an application for VRS made by an employee to the Appointing Authority would be examined and recommended accordingly by a Committee comprising of the respective Heads of Department, the Secretary and the Minister concerned. The other clauses related to the terminal benefits which would be payable to an employee seeking voluntary retirement. By an Office Memorandum dated 10. 08. 2000, tne Government modified the earlier Office Memorandum dated 20th June, 2000 to the extent that the required notice period would be governed as per Clause 48-A of CCS Pension Rules instead of Clause 48-A (1) of Central Civil Service Pension Rules. The Office Memorandum further clarified that all applications received so far would be treated accordingly. The VRS, when it was first introduced, was effective from 15th May, 2000 till 15th August, 2000 and thereafter, by an office Memorandum it was extended till 30th september, 2000. By an Office Memorandum dated 29. 09. 2000, the VRS was further extended till 31st October, 2000.

(3.) THE petitioner, in pursuance of the VRS introduced by the Government, submitted his application dated 04-10-2000, opting to take voluntary retirement under the said Scheme. By the said letter dated 04-10-2000, the petitioner stated that he was giving three months' notice with a request to relieve him from service w. e. f. 04-01-2001 and with a further request to give him all benefits to which he was entitled. By an Office memorandum dated 18-08-2000, it was brought to the notice of all the employees that the applications for voluntary retirement would be subject to acceptance by the Competent authority and as per the Scheme. The Office memorandum further stated that it was only thereafter that the concerned officer/official would be allowed to proceed on voluntary retirement as per the date mertioned. By an office Memorandum dated 07-11-2000, it was brought to the notice that many employees were opting for the VRS and seeking retirement from a date which was well beyond three months from the date of application. By this Office memorandum, it was stated that the notice period could not be extended beyond three months with the exception of employees desiring that the pension shoufd commence from the first of the month and where relieving an employee after three months' period from the date of application was absolutely necessary in public interest, it was clarified that this would apply in case of teachers, wherein the date of retirement should coincide with the end of the current academic session. The department was directed to ensure that the decision on the application was taken within a period of three months from the date of the application. By virtue of an Office memorandum dated December, 2000, the benefit extended to the teachers to coincide their retirement with the end of the academic session, was also extended to the non-teaching staff of the schools and colleges and schools/ colleges were given the discretion of retaining the staff till 30th April, 2000.