C.W.P. No.14614 of 1995 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.14614 of 1995 Date of Decision: 5.7.2010 Ajay Bansal ……Petitioner VERSUS State of Haryana and another ……Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ALOK SINGH -.- Present: Mr. R.S. Bains, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Deepak Jindal, D.A.G., Haryana. 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? Yes 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Yes ALOK SINGH, J. (ORAL) 1. By way of present petition, petitioner is challenging order dated 6.7.1994 (Annexure P-7) by which his resignation letter dated 15.6.1994 was accepted. 2. Undisputedly, petitioner was working as Assistant Distt. Attorney in the office of Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation department. Pe- titioner has tendered his resignation (Annexure P-4) on 16.5.1994. C.W.P. No.14614 of 1995 -2- Undisputedly, thereafter petitioner submitted another letter dated 15.6.1994 for relieving him w.e.f. 17.7.1994. He also informed vide letter dated 15.6.1994 (Annexure P-5) that he would be submitting his reasons for the resignation. Undisputedly, thereafter on 17.6.1994, petitioner submitted reasons for his resignation. 3. Petitioner’s request of resignation was accepted vide or- der dated 6.7.1994 w.e.f. 17.7.1994. Petitioner was relieved w.e.f. 17.7.1994 pursuant to his resignation. Undisputedly, resignation was never withdrawn before the acceptance order dated 6.7.1994. Thereafter, vide letter dated 16.1.1995, petitioner sought to recall his resignation. 4. Learned Counsel for the petitioner argued that out of frus- tration and embarrassment meted out by the petitioner, he submitted letters dated 16.5.1994, 15.6.1994 and 17.6.1994, which can not be construed as resignation. 5. Learned Counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance on the judgment in the matter of Prabha Atri vs. State of Uttar Pradesh reported in 2003 AIR SCC(1) 701, whereby Hon’ble the Su- preme Court in paragraph No.10 has observed as under:- “10……The letter cannot be construed, in our view, to convey any spontaneous intention to give up or relinquish her office accompanied by any act of relinquishment. To constitute a ‘resignation’, it must be unconditional and with an intention to operate as such. At best, as C.W.P. No.14614 of 1995 -3- observed by this Court in the decision in P.K. Ramachandra Iyer (supra) it may amount to a threatened offer more on account of exas- peration, to resign on account of a feeling of frustration born out of an idea that she was being harassed unnecessarily but not, at any rate, amounting to a resignation, actual and simple…..” 6. As per the dictum of the Apex Court in the matter of Prabha Atri (supra), this Court has to see as to whether letters dated 16.5.1994 (Annexure P-4) and 15.6.1994 (Annexure P-5) are uncon- ditional resignation. Letters dated 16.5.1994 and 15.6.1994 are read as under:- “From Ajay Bansal Asstt. Distt. Attorney, 3rd Battalian, HAP, Hissar. To The Commissioner & Secy. to Govt., Govt. of Haryana, Administration of Jus- tice, Department, Chandigarh (Through proper channel), Subject: Notice for resignation. Sir, C.W.P. No.14614 of 1995 -4- I do hereby serve with the advance no- tice to the effect that I resign from my present job of Asstt. Distt. Attorney, with effect from 15.8.94 (FN), Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Sd/- (Ajay Bansal) Asstt. Distt. Attorney 3rd Battalian, HAP, His- sar, r/o 184, Lajpat Nagar, Hissar 16.5.1994.” “From Ajay Bansal Asstt. Distt. Attorney, Haryana, Under Transfer to o/o ‘E’ n ‘C’, Irrigation, Haryana. To The Commissioner & Secretary. to Hary- ana Govt., Administration of Justice Deptt., Chandi- garh (Through proper channel), Subject: Notice for resignation. Sir, C.W.P. No.14614 of 1995 -5- In continuation of my letter/notice dated 16.5.94 on the subject cited above, I amend my no- tice under reference and therefore, I resign from my present job of Asstt. Distt. Attorney w.e.f. 17.7.94 A.N. (17th of July 1994 Afternoon), instead of 15.8.94 F.N. I reserve my right to submit the rea- sons of my resignation in question till the accep- tance of same. Kindly take advance notice of the above said facts w.e.f. to-day i.e. 15.6.94. It is, therefore, requested that I may kindly be relieved from my job w.e.f. 17.7.94 A.N. Yours sincerely, (Ajay Bansal) 15.6.94 Asstt. Distt. Attorney Addres: 194, Lajpat, Nagar, His- sar” 7. Last paragraph of third letter dated 17.6.1994 giving rea- sons to tender resignation reads as under:- “So, due to the aforesaid reasons I think it would be proper for me to resign from my present job of Assistant District Attorney and, therefore, I have submitted my resignation let- ter dated 15.6.1994, which may kindly be ac- cepted.” C.W.P. No.14614 of 1995 -6- 8. From the perusal of three letters (supra), in the humble opinion of this Court, all the three letters are unconditional resigna- tion. In the first letter dated 16.5.1994 (Annexure P-4), petitioner stated that he is tendering his resignation from the present job w.e.f. 15.8.1994 while vide another letter dated 15.6.1994 (Annexure P-5), petitioner requested the authorities to relieve him from the job w.e.f. 17.7.1994. Again by third letter dated 17.6.1994, petitioner made re- quest to accept his resignation. His resignation was accepted vide order dated 6.7.1994. Petitioner was relieved on 17.7.1994. Peti- tioner did not submit any representation at the earliest and submitted his representation on 16.1.1995 seeking recall of his resignation. Representation dated 16.1.1995 was submitted after six months from the date petitioner was relieved, which seems to be afterthought. 9. In the opinion of this Court, after acceptance of the resig- nation, it can not be withdrawn, hence, arguments advanced by learned Counsel for the petitioner can not be accepted. 10. Petition lacks merit, hence, is dismissed. ( ALOK SINGH ) 05th July, 2010 JUDGE ashish