Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 24: The High Court has held that the employer can make necessary corrections of the future pension of a retired employee on account of erroneously paid benefits to him during service period but recovery of such benefits is impermissible.
The Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar has ruled that the recovery of erroneously paid benefits from retired low-level employees is impermissible. The court, however, said the correction of future pay/pension is allowed.
The plea was moved by the Government through Additional Chief Secretary against the judgment of Tribunal, whereby the Tribunal had directed the authorities of Jal Shakti Department to restore the pay/pension of the retired-applicants which they were getting prior to the issuance of the impugned order of recovery of erroneous benefits extended to four employees of the department.
These employees were Class-IV employees in the Jal Shakti Department and were granted the benefit of a higher pay scale during their service careers. This benefit was extended under SRO 59 of 1990. However, the SRO had already been withdrawn by the Government with effect from 15.01.1996. Therefore, grant of the higher pay scale to the employees was an erroneous action by the department.
The department issued recovery orders of overpaid amounts and to correct the pay fixation upon discovery of mistakes. The recovery was sought to be made from these employees pay if in service and if retired then from their pensionary benefits.
The Government counsel contended before the Division Bench that no employee is entitled to retain a benefit that was wrongfully extended to them during their service career and the employer possesses the inherent right to correct such bona fide mistakes.
However, the counsel representing the aggrieved employees argued that since the mistake of granting higher pay scale was committed by the authorities and not by these employees therefore, the benefit of such mistake should be allowed to be availed by these employees.
The bench said that during the course of the employment, many a times, bonafide mistakes in fixation of salaries are committed by the employers. Sometimes these mistakes are detected by the employers themselves and sometimes by the office of the Accountant General. But, there is nothing that prevents the employer from correcting such mistakes. “Further that no employee, including one who has superannuated, possesses a vested right to perpetually reap the benefits of a mistake committed by the employer”, the court added.
The bench said that the Tribunal erred in directing the petitioner-department to restore the erroneously fixed pay and to calculate pension on that basis. The court said that no employee, including one who has superannuated, possesses a vested right to perpetually reap the benefits of a mistake committed by the employer.
The court has held that the employer is fully entitled to correct a bona fide mistake in pay fixation. “The petitioner-department was allowed to re-fix the pension based on the correct pay scale. With the aforesaid observations, the writ petition filed by the petitioners was partially allowed. Further the order passed by the Tribunal was set aside to the extent of direction to restore the higher pay and compute pension thereon”, the court concluded.
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