Case Title: Paras Khuttan v. GAIL India Ltd. & Anr
The court made the comment in a decision permitting a probationer's appeal. The General Terms and Conditions of Service Rules that apply to workers of the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) were cited by the court in its ruling.
The division bench, comprised of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, distinguished between a regular employee and a probationer, stating that in this situation, a probationer would not be subject to the three-month notice requirement or equivalent salary.
A single court had previously rejected the probationer's petition for a refund of the three months' income he had paid to GAIL in lieu of three months' notice when quitting his job.
Paras Khuttan, who joined GAIL as Manager (Law) in 2019, filed the plea. He was first appointed on probation for a year, and after successfully completing it, he was eligible to be confirmed, but he left the job before his probation was up.
GAIL instructed him to serve the required three months' notice in addition to three months' pay. According to Khuttan, the question of providing advance notice or making restitution did not come up because he was still in the probationary phase. He said that his bosses told him to submit a total of Rs. 1,74,253 as payment in lieu of the notice period.
Mr.Khuttan paid the amount against his will and lodged a request for a refund. However, once his arguments were turned down, a motion to the High Court was made and his plea was disregarded. Khuttan claimed on appeal that the single judge erroneously lumped regular and probationary employees into the same class and came to the conclusion that he was responsible for paying three months' salary in lieu of three months' notice.
"Once the employer is having a right to terminate the probationer without issuing any notice or without granting any salary in lieu of notice, the same has to be made applicable in case the probationer wants to leave the job and, therefore, to that extent, the learned Single Judge has erred in law and on facts in treating the probationer and regular employee at par in the matter of resignation", the Court noted.
Medha Moitra v. Union of India, in which the Calcutta High Court had allowed a claim resulting from the same circumstances was cited by Mr. Kuttan's lawyer.
On the other hand, Advocate Purnima Maheshwari, on behalf of GAIL contended that because Khuttan was an employee, she was required by law to give three months' notice or comparable pay in lieu of notice.
Additionally, it was maintained that since probationers were not assigned to a different category, the aforementioned requirement was required and could not be waived. Further, it was argued that when it comes to resignation, probationers are included in the definition of an employee.
The court took notice of the fact that the Manager (LAW) is in an E-3 Grade position and read Khuttan's letter of appointment, which stated that the services provided during the termination period may be terminated at any time and without prior notice.
"It is true that the Rules are applicable to all employees of the Company, however, employees and probationers are also defined under the Rules under the definition Clause," said the court.
The court used Rule 8.2 as the foundation for the payment of three months' compensation in lieu of notice, noting that it mandates three months' notice for employees at level E-O and above and three months' remuneration in lieu of notice.
By no means, according to the court, can Rule 8.2 be applied to a probationer in a termination situation. "The present case is an open and shut case of a probationer whose services could have been terminated at any point of time and the probationer was well within the right to resign at any point of time as he was not an employee and he was not covered under ... the Regulations governing the field," added the court.
The petitioner is entitled to a reimbursement of the money he placed in the notice period, according to the ruling, which stipulated that this must be done within three months.