IMPORTANT POINT
In cases where the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) is contractual in nature, the provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 apply. The offer to opt for VRS can be withdrawn during the validity period of the scheme and not thereafter, even if the offer was not accepted during the period of the scheme.

JUDGMENT

Shalinder Kaur, J. - The civil writ petition has been filed under Article 226 read with Article 227 of the Constitution of India by the petitioner seeking to set aside the impugned order dated 27.01.2020 passed by the Learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (hereinafter as 'Tribunal') whereby the learned Tribunal dismissed the Original Application (hereinafter as 'OA') No. 254/2020 filed by the petitioner along with the batch of OAs filed by the various employees of the BSNL, holding that the request for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (hereinafter as 'VRS') cannot be withdrawn after the last date stipulated under the scheme in light of the judgment titled Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation v. Manoj Kumar & Anr. [(2016) 9 SCC 375].

Factual Background

2. Petitioner was employed in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (hereinafter as 'BSNL'), as a Junior Telecom Officer on February 23, 1991 and got promoted to the post of Assistant General Manager in the office of TDM Kullu, Himachal Pradesh with effect from June 29, 2018. He has been working with BSNL since then and was due to superannuate on March 31, 2028.

3. The respondent no. 1 is the BSNL, which is a public sector undertaking, the respondent no. 2 is the Director (Finance), BSNL, respondent no. 3 is the General Manager, BSNL, Corporate Office.

4. On October 29, 2019, the Department of Telecommunication (hereinafter as 'DoT) conveyed to BSNL the decision of Union Cabinet for introduction of VRS vide office memorandum F. No. 30-04/2019-PSU Affairs dated October 29, 2019, introduced for optimising and right sizing of human resources of BSNL by providing attractive benefits to the eligible employees opting for voluntary retirement before the original date of superannuation. The scheme was introduced for revival of BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited. Pursuant thereto, BSNL vide letter no. 1-15/2019-PAT (BSNL) dated November 04, 2019 introduced the VRS 2019 for its employees and the scheme came into force from the date of notification.

5. The terms of the VRS stipulated one-month period starting and ending on November 04, 2019 and December 03, 2019 till 5.30 PM, respectively for availing the benefits of the scheme. Further, the effective date under the said scheme was January 31, 2020. Due to logistical challenges for implementing the scheme of this size, eligible employees were informed to avail the option of VRS through the Online Portal i.e. Employee Self Service (ESS) portal in BSNL, there was no physical method to apply or withdraw from the aforesaid scheme.

6. Clause 7(iii) of the VRS provided that the option once exercised, will be final and decision of the Competent Authority shall be binding on the employee. Further, option of withdrawal was also provided under VRS, to be exercised only once at any time till the closing date and time of the option.

7. It is not disputed that in view of the attractive benefits that scheme offered, the petitioner submitted his application on November 08, 2019 for seeking voluntary retirement within a span of original period fixed under the scheme i.e. November 04, 2019 to December 03, 2019. However, on December 17, 2019, the petitioner withdrew the application considering several drawbacks in the terms of the financial implications and that he had submitted the application in rush and haste for opting for voluntary retirement as there were conflicting opinions amongst the staff. Pursuant to his discussion with the family and colleagues, the petitioner submitted representation on December 20, 2019 through the All India BSNL Executive Association seeking withdrawal of the option, which was much before it was accepted by the competent authority under the scheme i.e. January 13, 2020. Similarly, other employees of BSNL submitted their representation for withdrawal from VRS after closing date of the option but before it was accepted by the competent authority.

8. On December 24, 2019, BSNL issued a letter no.