A Government Employee cannot claim VRS as a matter of right, as per the latest judgment given by the Supreme Court of India.
A Government Employee, just because he was given an offer initially, cannot derive an automatic right for availing a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS)
The facts of the case decided by the Supreme Court were briefly as follows :
One Mr.Jadhav, working in National Textiles Corporation, in response to a VRS scheme introduced by NTC, had applied for it on May, 16, 2000.Though his paper was cleared by the administration, by its letter dated, September, 26, 2000,NTC expressed its inability to accede his request, due to financial crunch. Subsequently,on May, 31, 2001, Mr.Jadhav, attained superannuation, but he pursued his case for VRS and the Madhyapradesh High Court, directed the NTC, to concede his demand.
The Supreme Court of India, setting aside the order of the High Court, said when a scheme for voluntary retirement is floated it constitutes only an offer to the employee but does not imply any obligation on the part of the employer.
The Supreme Court Bench of justices, S.B.Sinha and V.S.Sirpurkar, held ’By reason of a mere offer to retire voluntarily in terms where of employee was to get some more monetary benefits by itself did not confer any legal right on him’ upholding an appeal filed by the National Textile Corporation.(NTC)
The Supreme Court also held that a VRS claim can be made only when an employee is in service and not after his superannuation.
The decision of the Supreme Court of India affirms the fact that VRS cannot be claimed as a matter of right.