The relevant guidelines in respect of withdrawal of the resignation from Government service are contained in the Office Memorandum No. 28034/25/87-Estt(A) dated 11 February 1988 of the Government of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Personnel & Training and the relevant extract is reproduced hereunder:
“A resignation becomes effective when it is accepted and the Government servant is relieved of his duties. If a Government servant who had submitted a resignation, sends an intimation in writing to the appointing authority withdrawing his earlier letter of resignation before its acceptance by the appointing authority, the resignation will be deemed to have been automatically withdrawn and there is no question of accepting the resignation. In case, however, the resignation had been accepted by the appointing authority and the Government servant is to be relieved from a future date, if any request for withdrawing the resignation is made by the Government servant before he is actually relieved of his duties, the normal principle should be to allow the request of the Government servant to withdraw the resignation. If however, the request for withdrawal is to be refused, the grounds for the rejection of the request should be duly recorded by the appointing authority and suitably intimated to the Government servant concerned.”
So, in accordance with these guidelines, if his resignation is still to be formally accepted by the competent authority, in that case due to his withdrawal of the resignation in the meanwhile, his resignation will now not be accepted. And, if his resignation has already been accepted formally, but he is yet to relieved of his duties, in that case also, generally withdrawal of resignation would be allowed; and, if the competent authority refuses to allow him to withdraw his resignation then the authority has to give reasons in writing and communicate the same to him.
So, your client may wait for a proper response from the competent authority. Most likely, withdrawal of his resignation would be allowed.
At this juncture, I may also point out that under Rule 26(4) of the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, in certain situations, in public interest, the competent authority may allow a Government servant to withdraw his resignation even after he has been relieved of his duties, though this is permissible only within 90 days and is subject to certain conditions.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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