B. L. Yadav, J. - (1.) BY the present petition the petitioner who was a Head Clerk in Sri Tika Ram Girls Inter College, Aligarh has prayed for a writ of Mandamus directing the respondents to reinstate him on the post of Head Clerk and for the payment of his up to date salary with effect from 21-5-75 the date of suspension. On account of some criminal charges, petitioner was suspended on 21-5-75, but lateron he was exonerated from all the criminal charges levelled against him. The petitioner furnished order of acquittal dated 2-2-82 to the Manager and prayed that he should be reinstated with past salary (vide Annexure 2 to the writ petition). BY letter dated 31-8-82 he requested the Manager to be allowed to join and sent a copy of the same to the District Inspector of Schools Aligarh and Regional Inspectress of Girls School Agra, who directed the Manager for the reinstatement of the petitioner (vide Annexure 8) and thereafter made an enquiry from the Manager by letter dated 27-10-83 (Annexure 9) but the Manager neither gave any reply nor took any action to reinstate the petitioner who never resigned. The case of the petitioner was, that for the first time, in para 4 of the counter affidavit filed by one O. P. Gupta on behalf of respondent no. 3, it was averred that the petitioner has voluntarily tendered resignation on 7th October, 1975 which was approved by the Committee of Management on 27-1-76. This resignation was, however, in pursuance of Regulation 29 framed under Chapter 3 (Conditions of Service) applicable to the employees of the Institution. The case of the Committee of Management was that the petitioner has resigned as a Head Clerk and the same has been accepted.
(2.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner urged that petitioner never tendered any resignation nor any such allegation was in his notice prior to the date when a copy of the counter affidavit was served on his counsel who informed him. In Regulation 29 under Chapter 3 (Conditions of Service) of the Intermediate Education Act (for short Act) with the approval of the State Government on 10th March, 1975 an Amendment was made in the Act and Regulations to the effect that the provisions of Regulation 29 were applicable to the clerks and librarians also. Earlier it was applicable only to the teachers. The regulation 29 may be read with Regulation 26. The legal effect of resignation is that the service stands terminated, therefore it must strictly comply with the Regulation 29 read with Regulation 26. As such a permanent employee, while tendering resignation must give 3 months notice or 3 months pay in lieu thereof. In the instant case neither any such notice was alleged to have been given nor the Management, while accepting the resignation, condoned the period of notice as is clear from Annexure C.A. 5, hence it was no resignation in the eye of law. Reliance was placed on Shiv Raj Singh v. Shri Dev Ji Mal Asba Ram Paliwal, 1982 Ed Cases 151 and Km. Rama Chauhan v. Committee of Management, 1981 UP LB EC 721. On the other hand learned counsel for the respondents urged that the resignation was valid even without 3 months prior notice and that under Regulation 100 applicable to the librarians etc., Regulation 29 was not mentioned, therefore the conditions for resignation applicable to the teachers could not be made applicable to the cases of clerks. Having heard learned counsel for the parties point for consideration is whether the petitioner resigned, if so, was it in accordance with the Regulation 29 read with Regulation 26.
(3.) AS regards first part of the question it appears that the letter of resignation, even though a copy of the same (Annexure 4 to the counter affidavit of O. P. Gupta) has been filed, does not appear to have been sent to either D.I.O.S. or the R.I.G.S. nor the approval of the authority concerned appears to have been obtained, we proceed to determine as to whether the resignation can be made without complying with the provisions of Regulations 26 and 29 framed under Chapter 3 (Conditions of Service), under U. P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921. It has to be noticed that U. P. Intermediate Education Act was passed prior to coming into force of the Constitution of India. Under the Act amendments have been made from time to time and the Regulations have been framed thereunder. With a view to provide more protection to the teachers and employees of the institutions State Government approved an Amendment on 10th March, 1975 to the effect that the provisions applicable to the teachers regarding resignation would be applicable to the clerks and librarians also. The object of the amendment was to safeguard the interest of librarians etc. from the unfair clutches of Management as it used to fabricate resignations on behalf of the clerks and other employees just to employ its own henchman. To avoid all this the provision was made that a teacher, clerk or librarian can resign only by giving 3 months notice or paying 3 months pay in lieu thereof. This obviously means that a teacher or employee has to remain conscious while submitting resignation, by giving notice of 3 months or paying salary of 3 months in lieu thereof, in case he was a permanent employee. This was a salutary check to ascertain the bonafides of the letter of resignation. It was in consonance with the objects of the amendment brought in the provision. In our opinion the possible textual and contextual interpretation of Regulation 29 read with Regulation 26 under Chapter 3, would be that unless a head clerk submits his resignation giving 3 months notice or by paying 3 months pay in lieu thereof, the resignation cannot be deemed to be valid. From the record it appears that in the instant case the resignation was not communicated even to the relevant authorities including Regional inspectress of Girls School etc. Had the resignation actually been submitted, relevant authority including respondents 1 and 2 would have itself commented about the validity of the resignation or otherwise.;