Retirement rule communication requirement bars post-superannuation disciplinary punishment when permission to retire is not withheld in time.

Where a retirement rule allows the appointing authority to withhold permission to retire only by a positive decision, that decision must be communicated before superannuation; mere inaction is insufficient. Because no communicated order withholding retirement existed before the employee reached the retirement age, he was treated as having effectively retired. Once retirement took effect, disciplinary jurisdiction ended and punishment could not validly be imposed thereafter.

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Issues: Whether disciplinary proceedings could validly be continued and punishment imposed after the appellant had effectively retired under the applicable retirement rule, and whether the appointing authority was required to communicate a decision withholding permission to retire before superannuation.

Analysis: The retirement rule conferred on a Government servant a right to retire on attaining the prescribed age by giving the requisite notice, but that right was subject to a proviso enabling the appointing authority to withhold permission where the servant was under suspension or where departmental proceedings were pending or contemplated. The proviso was held to require a positive decision by the appointing authority and communication of that decision to the Government servant. Mere non-action or absence of communication was not enough to amount to withholding permission. Since no order withholding permission had been communicated before the date of superannuation, the appellant must be treated as having effectively retired. Once retirement had taken effect, disciplinary jurisdiction could not be exercised against him.

Conclusion: The disciplinary authority had no jurisdiction to impose punishment after the appellant's retirement, and the dismissal order could not stand.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a retirement rule permits withholding of retirement only by a positive decision of the appointing authority, that decision must be communicated before the employee effectively retires; otherwise disciplinary jurisdiction ceases after retirement.

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