Only Centre can accept VRS in All India Services: SC

New Delhi, Aug 13: The Supreme Court has held that in case of members of All India Services, it is the Centre which is competent to accept the offer of voluntary retirement and not the state government.

A bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and Dalveer Bhandari, in a judgment dated August 8, directed the Union Home Ministry to pay all pensionary benefits with nine per cent interest, to the appellant A K Sahu, an IPS officer belonging joint cadre authority of Assam and Meghalaya.

The Court also directed the state to pay Rs 50000 to the appellant as cost of litigation.

Mr Sahu was suspended from service during the pendency of disciplinary proceedings against him, had sought voluntary retirement from service from August 1, 1997.

The letter was forwarded by the state chief secretary to the Union Home Ministry which approved the proposal and sent it back to the Joint Cadre Autority for acceptance and the officer was informed on September 8, 1997 that his offer had been accepted by the state Governor.

The official filed a writ petition that the acceptance by the state government was illegal and the offer of voluntary retirement was not accepted by the state before August 1,1997. Hence, the acceptance was illegal and he was entitled to be reinstated as he had withdrawn his offer of voluntary retirement in 1999.

The appellant had sought retirement after completion of 22 years of service as IPS.

The apex court refusing to order reinstatement of the appellant, however observed, ''Although legally the appellant is right that his offer should have been accepted by the Union government, and the same should have been communicated to him. A wrong procedure was adopted by the Centre in communicating the order of acceptance.

The court, however, exercising its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, directed the state also to pay salary to the appellant for the period during August 1, 1997 to September 8, 1997.

UNI