SC: Voluntary retirement only if person meets the eligibility criteria

By Legal Wires 3 Minutes Read

The Supreme Court has observed that voluntary retirement can be sought only if the person meets the eligibility criteria, whereas a person can submit a resignation at any time during his service.

Union of India v. Abhiram Verma

The Division Bench comprising of Justice MR Shah and Justice AS Bopanna stated that “A person can resign at any time during his service, however, an officer cannot ask for premature/voluntary retirement unless he fulfils the eligibility criteria.”

The case was regarding the eligibility of an Army officer for pensionary benefits. The officer had resigned after 8 years of service and was entitled to the pensionary benefits by the Armed Forces Tribunal, which was approved by the J & K High Court as well. Therefore the central government approved the Supreme Court challenging the verdicts.

The Supreme Court held that the officer cannot be treated as a ‘late entrant’ under regulation 15 of the Pension Regulation i.e. is an officer who is retired on reaching the prescribed age limit for compulsory retirement with at least 15 years commissioned service.

Therefore the court set aside the judgement of the Armed Forces Tribunal and the J & K High Court.

Legal Wires

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