B. SUDERSHAN REDDY, J.

( 1 ) RESPONDENTS 1 and 2 in Writ Petition No. 16860 of 1998 are the appellants in this writ appeal. This appeal is directed against the order dated 5/09/2001 in Writ petition No, 16860 of 1998 passed by the learned single Judge of this Court whereunder the learned single Judge quashed order No. CPD/estt/97 dated S 30/09/1997 accepting the resignation of the 1st respondent-writ petitioner and the order dated 15/10/1997 terminating the services of the respondent-writ petitioner as general Manager (Finance ).

( 2 ) THE facts leading to the filing of the writ petition have been noticed in detail by the learned single Judge. It is not necessary to restate all the facts in detail for the purposes of disposal of this writ appeal. However, we shall notice briefly the relevant facts in order to appreciate the questions that arise for our consideration.

( 3 ) THE respondent-writ petitioner at the relevant point of time was serving as vice-President (Finance) in the establishment of the appellant-Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills limited. He is a qualified Chartered accountant with vast experience to his credit. He was selected as a Deputy General Manager (Finance) to serve in the appellant s Company in September, 1988 through All India open advertisement and selection and he joined the company in the month of January, 1989. That after satisfactory completion of the probationary period, the respondent-writ petitioner was confirmed as General Manager (Finance) in early 1989. He later became the vice-President (Finance) in November, 1996.

( 4 ) IT is the case of the respondent-writ petitioner, set up in the writ petition, that the 2nd appellant-Executive Director joined the company in May, 1997 and he without assigning any reasons demanded his resignation on 30/09/1997 and threatened termination of service forthwith if he did not submit resignation immediately. The respondent-writ petitioner in order to buy peace and time to deal with the matter in a more tranquil atmosphere handed over a letter giving three months notice expressing his desire to resign from the post and the same was delivered at the residence of the 2nd appellant in the evening of September 30, 1997 which was accepted and the respondent-writ petitioner was relieved on 1/10/1997. The respondent writ petitioner coming to know of the action taken by the 2nd appellant sent him a letter dated 3/10/1997 informing the 2nd appellant that there was no resignation at all and that was a notice of resignation obtained from him under threat and coercion and accordingly, requested the 2nd appellant to revoke, the impugned office order dated 30/09/1997 and permit him to resume duty in the office of the Vice-President (Finance ). The 2nd appellant did not reply to the letter of the respondent-writ petitioner dated 3/10/1997. The 2nd appellant passed order dated 15/10/1997 terminating the services of the respondent-writ petitioner with effect from 16/10/1997 in terms of Clause (13) of the letter of appointment dated 24/09/1998. The 2nd appellant also sent a cheque for Rs. 59,100. 00 dated 15/10/1997 and another cheque for Rs. 2,707. 00 dated 16/10/1997 purported to be towards notice pay and pay for the period from 1/10/1997 to Octo 15/10/1997 respectively. The respondent-writ petitioner, however, returned both the cheques to the 2nd appellant.

( 5 ) IT is the case of the respondent-writ petitioner that he came to know that his services were terminated due to evil design planned by the 2nd appellant with the connivance of respondents 3 and 4 namely Mr. P. C Parakh, ias, Director of the appellant- Company and mr. P. N. Jhawan, Senior Manager (Secretarial services) of the Company to remove him from service as the Vice-President (Finance) and the outcome of the evil design resulted in the order made by the 2nd appellant on 15/10/1997.

( 6 ) WE do not propose to go into the details of those allegations. Suffice it to notice, the respondent-writ petitioner made certain serious

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