Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh High Court
The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has held that a resignation tendered by a Police Officer can be accepted by the Superintendent forthwith without previously receiving a prior notice of his intention to resign under Section 10 of Police Act.
The Court was considering a Writ Petition against an order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal whereby the Application filed by the Petitioner was dismissed.
The division bench of Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul and Justice Sanjeev Kumar observed, “From plain reading of Section 10, it is evident that a police officer is not permitted to resign without leave of Superintendent unless he has given a prior notice of not less than two months of his intention to resign. However, nothing prevents the Superintendent to accept resignation forthwith.”
The Petitioner was represented by Advocate Aswad Attar while the Respondent was represented by Senior Additonal Advocate General Mohsin Qadiri.
Facts of the Case
The Petitioner was selected as Constable in the J&K Police and was put on training course, Session 2016-2017. He absented twice during his training for which he was also awarded censure as punishment. He eventually completed his training but immediately thereafter, instead of joining his active duties, he applied for 40 days earned leave. The competent authority, however, sanctioned only 20 days earned leave in his favour.
The Petitioner had barely performed his active duties for two months that he applied for voluntary resignation on 11th July 2018. The resignation letter was supported by an affidavit in which the Petitioner had cited some domestic problems. The resignation was accepted by the Commandant on same day.
Aggrieved, the Petitioner approached the Tribunal by way of which the impugned judgment to be filed. The impugned judgment is assailed by the petitioner primarily on two grounds, a) that the Tribunal failed to appreciate that the resignation which was submitted by the Petitioner was not voluntary and was under coercion from the militants of a banned militant organization and b) that the Tribunal also did not appreciate that in terms of Section 10 of the Police Act, 1983, the resignation submitted by the petitioner was to be treated as “intention to resign” and given effect to only after two months of its submission.
Reasoning By Court
The Court at the outset observed that the story projected by the Petitioner that he and his family were under threat from the militants to resign is an afterthought and concocted after the acceptance of the resignation.
“We could not find any document, communication or representation on record made by the petitioner prior to submission of the resignation which would indicate that the petitioner had informed his superiors about the threat which he and his family members were facing from the militants,” the Court observed.
Pointing towards his unsatisfactory career, it remarked that the Petitioner didn’t seem to be interested in serving as Constable in the J&K Police. It thus rejected the first ground for objection.
As regarding the second ground, the Court held that although a resignation tendered by a Police Officer can be accepted by the Superintendent forthwith without previously receiving a prior notice of his intention to resign under Section 10 of Police Act.
“In the instant case, there should be no dispute with regard to the fact that the petitioner, who had submitted his voluntary resignation on 11th July 2018, was permitted to resign by the Commandant by accepting his resignation on the same day. It is thus beyond any shadow of doubt that the petitioner had resigned from his post with the leave of the Commandant and, therefore, there was no requirement of treating his resignation as his ‘intention to resign’ and wait for two months period to expire before its acceptance,” the Court observed
The Petition was accordingly dismissed.
Cause Title: Bilal Ahmad Yatoo vs. Union Territory of JK & Ors.
Appearances:
Petitioner- Advocate Aswad Attar
Respondent– Senior Additional Advocate General Mohsin Qadiri, Advocate Maha Majeed
