An employee who has resigned from service is not entitled to pensionary benefits due to a worker who has voluntarily retired, the Supreme Court held.
A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hrishikesh Roy, in a recent judgment, referred to the past verdicts and said resignation and voluntary retirement, though voluntary on the part of an employee, operated differently and had dissimilar consequences.
“One of the basic distinctions is that in the case of resignation, it can be tendered at any time, but in the case of voluntary retirement, it can only be sought for after rendering the prescribed period of qualifying service,” the judgment said.
“Another fundamental distinction is that in the case of the former, normally retiral benefits are denied but in the case of the latter, the same is not denied. In the case of the former, permission or notice is not mandated, while in the case of the latter, permission of the employer concerned is a requisite condition,” the court said, referring to a past judgment.
Distinct consequences
Justice Chandrachud, who authored the verdict, said “The decision to resign results in the legal consequences that flow from a resignation under the applicable provisions. These consequences are distinct from the consequences flowing from voluntary retirement and the two may not be substituted for each other based on the length of an employee’s tenure.”
The verdict came on an appeal filed by BSES Yamuna Power Ltd. against a Delhi High Court decision to grant pensionary benefits a peon who had resigned from service.
