Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 15: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed a Government order that directed recovery of honorarium from the pension of a retired police officer, holding that disciplinary proceedings cannot be stretched beyond retirement unless backed by due process and proof of loss.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar ruled in favour of Sudershan Mehta, a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, who had been penalised for serving as Joint Secretary of the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) while in service.
Mehta, represented by Advocate Parveen Kapahi, was accused of violating service conduct rules by accepting a remunerated post in the JKCA between 2003 and 2016 without prior approval. An inquiry officer concluded that he had indeed accepted Rs 12,000 per month as honorarium in addition to his Government salary. Acting on this, the Home Department ordered recovery of the amount from his pension in November 2022.
Challenging this order, Mehta argued that no charge of financial loss had ever been framed against him, making the recovery untenable. The High Court agreed, observing: “A retired person cannot be subjected to departmental proceedings for misconduct committed during service unless specific charges of negligence or fraud causing loss are established in proper inquiry”.
The UT, represented by Senior AAG Monika Kohli, defended the recovery by citing Article 168-A of the J&K Civil Service Regulations, which allows recovery from pension for losses caused by an employee. The Court, however, clarified that in Mehta’s case, there was no inquiry establishing any such loss.
The Division Bench also noted that several other senior officers had held posts in sports associations without prior sanction, but no similar action was taken against them. The bench found the Government’s order discriminatory and unsustainable in law.
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