The Supreme Court has declared that voluntary retirement cannot be claimed as a matter of right by the government employees. The SC said that the government has the power to make rules in the greater public interest while rejecting a premature application by a government employee for leaving a job.

The Court, while upholding the decision of the Uttar Pradesh Government, has denied the plea of four senior doctors of Joint Director and Senior Consultant rank for voluntary retirement, owing to the shortage of doctors in the State. The SC has said that the UP government has resorted to the concept of public interest by denying the voluntary retirement plea of the employees.

The SC has stated that UP is going through a scarcity of doctors and if all the doctors are permitted to retire voluntarily, it would create a state of chaos in the State as no doctor will be available in the government hospitals. It has also been stated by the SC that allowing voluntary retirement will go against the principle of the welfare state and is injurious to the public interest for the same reason.

The four doctors had applied for voluntary retirement before the UP government which was dismissed. Then, they had approached the Allahabad  High Court challenging the government’s order. The SC has reversed the order of the Allahabad  HC, which allowed the doctors to retire voluntarily. The SC, while rejecting their plea for voluntary retirement, has stated that the poor people rely upon the government hospitals for treatment and their life cannot be put at risk by allowing such pleas.