Service law – Retrospective promotion/appointment – Grant of financial benefit – Recovery of excess drawn arrears after superannuation of the employees, if permissible – Appellantsstenographer Grade-I granted certain financial benefit on grant of promotion/appointment retrospectively upon upgradation – Appellants superannuated from their posts and three years thereafter, the respondent no.1 ordered recovery of said amount and directed the appellants to deposit the excess drawn arrears, without affording any opportunity of hearing – Writ petition by appellants, dismissed by the High Court – Sustainability:
Held: If the excess amount was not paid on account of any misrepresentation/fraud by employee or if such excess payment was made by the employer by applying a wrong principle for calculating the pay/allowance or on the basis of a particular interpretation of rule/order, which is subsequently found to be erroneous, such excess payments of emoluments or allowances are not recoverable – Such relief is not because of any right of the employee but in equity, exercising judicial discretion to provide relief to the employee from the hardship that would be caused if the recovery is ordered – On facts, payment made to the appellants was not on account of any fraud or misrepresentation by them – It seems, when the financial benefit was extended to the appellants by the District Judge, the same was subsequently not approved by High Court which resulted in the subsequent order of recovery – Recovery was directed six years after the payment was made, and three years after the appellants retired, and that too without affording any opportunity of hearing – Appellants having superannuated on a ministerial post of Stenographer were admittedly not holding any gazetted post – Thus, the recovery order is unsustainable, and is set aside. [Paras 9, 11, 12]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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