Section 22 — Resignation by Members and Filling of Vacancy

Section 21 covers disqualification and removal; Section 22 covers the other ways a Board seat empties out — resignation, death, or any other cause — and what happens both to the seat and to the person who held it afterward.

Resignation, and when it actually takes effect — 22(1)

The Chairperson or any Member may give the Central Government written notice of resignation. That resignation becomes effective on whichever of the following happens earliest: the date the Central Government permits her to relinquish office; the expiry of three months from the date the notice was received; a duly appointed successor entering upon office; or the expiry of the term of office. A resignation notice doesn't create an immediate exit on its own — one of these four triggers has to actually occur first, which means a resigning Member can end up serving several more months if none of the other three triggers arrives sooner.

Filling any vacancy — 22(2)

A vacancy caused by resignation, removal, death, or otherwise is filled by a fresh appointment made in accordance with the Act's own provisions — meaning back through Section 19's appointment mechanism and qualifications standard, the same route used for every other appointment to the Board.

A one-year cooling-off restriction — 22(3)

For one year after ceasing to hold office, the Chairperson or a Member can't accept any employment except with the Central Government's prior approval, and must disclose to the Central Government any subsequent acceptance of employment with a Data Fiduciary against whom proceedings were initiated by or before that Chairperson or Member. This is a revolving-door safeguard aimed at a specific risk: a Board Member moving straight into employment with an organisation whose case they personally decided, or that had proceedings pending before them.

Why this matters in practice

The cooling-off restriction in 22(3) is narrower than a blanket post-office employment ban — it requires prior approval for any employment, but the disclosure duty is specifically tied to Data Fiduciaries the Member had proceedings against. Read alongside Section 20's two-year renewable term and Section 21's removal mechanism, Section 22 completes the picture of how tenure on the Board actually begins and ends in practice, not just how it's supposed to look on paper.

Illustration: a Member who decided proceedings against a particular Data Fiduciary resigns, and two months later is offered a role at that same Data Fiduciary. Under 22(3), she needs the Central Government's prior approval before accepting, and separately has to disclose that acceptance to the Central Government — the disclosure duty applies specifically because proceedings against that Data Fiduciary were before her.

How Section 22 connects to the rest of the Act

Section 19's appointment mechanism is what 22(2) points back to for filling any vacancy. Section 21's disqualification and removal grounds are one route into the vacancy 22(2) addresses; resignation under 22(1) and death are the others. Section 23(3) deals with a related but distinct scenario — a sitting Chairperson temporarily unable to act, rather than a vacancy in the office itself.