M.P. Medical Officers Association vs The State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

26 August 2022

Case No.

Civil Appeal No. 5527 of 2022

Result

Partly allowed

Bench

M.R. Shah, B.V. Nagarathna

Citation

[2022] 7 S.C.R. 67 : 2022 INSC 878

Headnote

Service Law – Recovery of excess amount paid – Employeesmembers of the appellant association were wrongly granted certain benefits under a circular till it was subsequently withdrawn, having been issued without authority and also without approval of Finance Department – State Govt. ordered recovery of the excess amount paid with interest – Single Judge quashed the communication withdrawing the circular and the orders of recovery of excess amount – Order set aside by Division Bench – Held: Division Bench justified in setting aside the order passed by Single Judge quashing the communication withdrawing the circular, considering the grounds on which the circular was withdrawn – Impugned order upholding the communication withdrawing the circular not interfered with – However, Division Bench erred in quashing the order passed by Single Judge setting aside the recovery of excess amount paid – It was the Department/State that issued the circular and paid the benefits thereunder – There was neither any misrepresentation by the concerned employees nor can the mistake be attributed to them – Mistake, if any, can be said to be that of the Department/State that issued the circular – On facts, State not justified in ordering recovery of the excess amount paid, also as some of the employees have retired and the recovery shall be from their pension/pensionary benefits – Order passed by Division Bench upholding the recovery of the excess amount paid, set aside – No recovery of the excess amount paid – However, for all other purposes including pay fixation and pension etc., the same shall be worked out as per order dtd

26.08.08 – M.P. Public Health and Family Welfare (Gazetted) Service Recruitment Rules, 2007 – M.P. Public Health and Family Welfare (Gazetted) Service Recruitment Rules, 1988.

State of Punjab and others v. Rafiq Masih, (2015) 4 SCC 334 : [2014] 13 SCR 1343 – held inapplicable.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by M. R. SHAH, J. 1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur in Writ Appeal No. 1073 of 2018 by which the High Court has allowed the said writ appeal preferred by the State of Madhya Pradesh and others and has quashed and set aside the judgment and order passed by the learned Single Judge passed in Writ Petition No. 6236 of 2014, the original writ petitioners – M.P. Medical Officers Association and other individual members of the Association have filed the present appe

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