Supreme Court: Resignation not final until its acceptance is communicated to employee

The Supreme Court in the case S.D. Manohara Versus Konkan Railway Corporation Limited And Ors observed and has allowed the reinstatement of an employee to the Railways.

The Supreme Court observed that an internal communication about accepting the resignation letter of employee cannot be said to be acceptance of the resignation letter.

Adding to it, the court stated that unless such acceptance was communicated to the employee, the resignation could not be deemed to be accepted.

In the present case, the appellant has served the respondent i.e., Konkan Rail Corporation since 1990.

After putting in 23 years of service, the appellant tendered his resignation on December05, 2013, wherein stating that it may be considered as coming into effect on expiry of one month.

Thoygh the resignation letter was accepted with effect from April 07, 2014, there was no official communication about such acceptance to the appellant.

On May 26, 2014, the appellant wrote a letter withdrawing his resignation.

On July 01, 2014, the respondent relieved the employee.

Although the respondent had accepted the resignation letter w.e.f. April 07, 2014, the appellant was called on to report on duty considering his unauthorised absence from April 28, 2014 to May 18, 2014 and in fact, the appellant reported on May 19, 2024.