Who Should Issue Appointment Letters: HR Manager or Managing Director?

Hi friends, please let me know who has the authority to issue the appointment letter to the employees, whether it's the HR manager or the MD. As per my knowledge, appointment letters are typically provided by the HR department only.

Thanks in advance.
Regards.

The MD is ultimate, but for convenience, it is delegated, and in general, it is going to be delegated to HR. However, the delegation should be through a Board Resolution.

Regards,
Kamesh

Authority to Issue Appointment Letters

The Managing Director (MD) has the ultimate authority to issue letters. He/she delegates the issuance of letters to various executives. Sometimes, powers are delegated by practice. The MD also delegates powers through circulars. Few companies have a practice of a Board resolution for appointment letters. A Board resolution is necessary only where a general power of attorney is not given to the MD, which is very rare.

It is a common practice that letters are issued by the HR department. This is not an authority but more for convenience. The main purpose is to maintain records and ensure that a uniform practice is followed across the organization.

An organization is an artificial person. An appointment is made by the company represented by an employee who is the appointing authority. It need not be the top person like the MD or Chairman. The board appoints an employee as a manager who is authorized to appoint, promote, transfer, punish, or dismiss any employee. This manager is to be notified to all employees. There can be different managers for different divisions of the same company.

The manager's authority can always be overridden by the authority who appointed the manager. This is because the one who can impart authority can supersede it by withdrawing it.

Regards,
Vibhakar Ramtirthkar.