RAJESH KUMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition has been filed under Article 226 read with Article 227 of the Constitution of India by the petitioner seeking to aside the impugned order dtd. 7/7/2020 passed by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as "Tribunal") in Original Application No. 17/2020 [hereinafter referred to as "OA"] whereby the learned Tribunal dismissed the OA filed by the petitioner holding that no fault can be found with the Scheme as also its implementation and that the action of respondents in not accepting the request of the petitioner herein cannot be interfered with. The petitioner is also seeking a direction for respondents to reconsider acceptance of VRS option of the petitioner.

(2.) Petitioner was appointed as the Junior Telecom Officer in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "BSNL")/respondent No. 2 Organization on February 21, 1994, and was subsequently promoted to the post of Assistant General Manager. At present, petitioner is posted in BSNL-Rohtak, Haryana.

(3.) Department of Telecommunication (hereinafter as "DoT") issued an office memorandum dated October 29, 2019 intimating to BSNL, the Union Cabinet's approval of the DoT's proposal of Voluntary Retirement Scheme for the revival of the BSNL. Pursuant thereto, BSNL vide notification dated November 04, 2019 introduced the "BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme-2019" (hereinafter as "VRS"), for reducing the employee cost and providing various attractive benefits to the eligible employees opting for voluntary retirement before the normal date of superannuation. Employees aged 50 and above were eligible to opt for the voluntary retirement under VRS.