This Connect provides a brief overview of the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Ashok Kumar Dabas v. Delhi Transport Corporation where it partially allowed an appeal filed by the legal heirs of a deceased employee, Ashok Kumar Dabas. The apex court reaffirmed the legal distinction between resignation and voluntary retirement, holding that while resignation entails forfeiture of past service for pensionary purposes as per Rule 26 of the Payment of Gratuity Rules, 1972, it does not deprive an employee of statutory gratuity.