The Supreme Court has been of the observation that though an officer can resign at any given time during their service, they are also entitled to ask for voluntary retirement only if they meet the eligibility criteria. A bench had declared that a person can resign at any time during their service, but an officer is not allowed to ask for premature or voluntary retirement unless they fulfil the given eligibility criteria.
The case was in relation to the eligibility of an officer in the Indian Army, who resigned after around 8 years of service, and for the pensionary benefits in particular. The Tribunal of Armed Forces gave him pensionary benefits, and this was also approved by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
The Supreme Court was in disagreement with what the AFT and High Court found. The Supreme Court had noted that the period of qualifying service for the purpose of voluntary retirement is at least 10 years of service, which the officer did not possess. Also, in the past incidences, he had also mentioned that he was resigning due to a lack of promotional opportunities.
