IMPORTANT POINT
Recovery of excess payments is permissible when employees are aware of overpayment and accept conditions of pay fixation.

JUDGMENT :

(1) Heard Sri S.B. Pandey, learned Senior Advocate and Deputy Solicitor General of India assisted by Sri Ashwani Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners in all the petitions and Ms. Savita Jain, learned counsel for the private respondents.

(2) By means of this bunch of writ petitions, similar orders of the same nature passed in separate Original Applications involving similar facts and case, have been challenged. Writ-A No.6056 of 2024 has been taken up as the leading writ petition with the consent of the parties.

(3) The case of the petitioners herein is that all the respondents in this petitions had been granted three promotions/financial upgradation, therefore, in view of three promotions already having been granted to them, they were not entitled to any financial upgradation under the 'Assured Career Progression Scheme (ACPS)' which came into force w.e.f. 01.09.2008 as modified. Nevertheless, they were wrongly granted the benefit of 'Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS) (3rd financial upgradation)' w.e.f. 01.09.2008 in the form of Grade Pay Rs.4800/-. They were erroneously given the benefit of 3rd financial upgradation w.e.f. 01.09.2008 vide orders dated 26.07.2010, 18.02.2010, 12.08.2010, 19.04.2010, 15.02.2012, 25.10.2013 and their names figure in the list appended therein. One such order dated 26.07.2010 is annexed at page 26 to 28 of the supplementary affidavit filed by the petitioner in Writ-A No.6056 of 2024, the leading petition.

(4) Our attention has been drawn to point 2 of the said order dated 26.07.2010 which contains a specific condition to the effect -"The pay fixation is subject to post audit and in the light of audit observation, over payment if any shall be recovered from the official in one lump-sum." Similar condition is there in other orders.

(5) The submission is that prior to retirement of the respondents, the account section scrutinized their service records and raised an objection on detection of an irregularity in grant of the aforesaid benefit of 3rd financial upgradation as noticed hereinabove and accordingly, a note was put up to the DDO on 17.05.2016 (Writ-A No.6056 of 2024) to the effect-"please recover the over payment amount due to wrong fixation from 01.09.2008 to 31.05.2016 in the grade pay of Rs.4800/-and sent the recovery statement duly attested by DDO along with pension paper." This was prior to the retirement of the respondents. Similar audit objections were raised in case of all the respondents albeit on different dates.

(6) It appears that the private respondents were aware of this audit objection which was referable to the condition mentioned in the order dated 26.07.2010 etc., as such, the respondents moved applications copies of which are on record having been annexed with the supplementary affidavit, asking the Deputy Director General, Doordarshan Centre, Lucknow to kindly finalize their pension matter taking into consideration the audit objection of the Accounts and Audit Officer dated 17.05.2016 etc., in pursuance to which, the pay fixation was corrected and thereafter the pension was fixed.

(7) While disbursing the post retiral dues, the excess payment was deducted therefrom as was permissible in view of the conditions mentioned in the orders dated 26.07.2010 and other orders which the respondents readily accepted without any demur and also in view of their own letter given before their retirement for finalizing their pension in terms of the audit objections which in the context of Writ-A No.6056 of 2024 was served on 17.05.2016. In Writ-A No.7231 of 2024, respondent had given such letter after retirement.

(8) In the light of the aforesaid facts, reliance has been placed by the petitioners upon a judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the case of High Court of Punjab and Haryana and Ors. vs. Jagdev Singh reported in AIR 2016 SC 3523 wherein Supreme Court of India considered its earlier decision in State of Punjab and others etc. vs. Rafiq Masi