Recovery of excess payments from retired employees is impermissible without due process, and the principle of natural justice mandates an opportunity to be heard before adverse actions.

JUDGMENT :

S. DATTA PURKAYASTHA, J.

The case of the petitioner, in brief, is that he was appointed as Lower Division Clerk vide office order dated 25.05.1987 issued by the respondent No.2 in the pay scale of Rs.430-850/-. Accordingly, he joined to the post on 15.06.1987 and on completion of 10 years of satisfactory service, he was provided first financial upgradation w.e.f. 15.06.1997. Thereafter, vide office order dated 13.05.2002 (Annexure-2 to the writ petition) he was promoted to the post of Upper Division Clerk and finally he was promoted to the post of Head Clerk vide office order dated 11.08.2011 (Annexure-3) in the pay scale of Rs.5000-10300/- (pre-revised). By the lapse of time, on attaining the age of superannuation, the petitioner ultimately went on retirement on 31.05.2021 from the post of Head Clerk from the office of the Deputy Director, Horticulture Department, Government of Tripura, South Tripura, Shantirbazar with his last basic pay of Rs.60,800/-.

[2] On his superannuation, the Deputy Director of Horticulture vide sanction memo dated 28.05.2021 (Annexure-4) calculated his total gratuity amount to be Rs.10,03,400/- (with the maximum ceiling limit of Rs.10,00,000/-) and 75% of the said amount i.e. Rs.7,50,000/- was sanctioned as provisional gratuity and the rest 25% was withheld. Similarly vide another sanction memo dated 28.05.2021 an amount of Rs.6,26,240/- was sanctioned as amount of leave salary and both the amounts were calculated treating his basic pay to be Rs.60,800/-.

[3] After the pension proposal of the petitioner was forwarded to the office of the Accountant General, the letter dated 25.08.2021 (Annexure-5) was communicated by the Assistant Accounts Officer of the office of Accountant General (A & E) to the said Deputy Director of Horticulture, Shantirbazar indicating that the fixation of pay of the petitioner under ROP Rules, 2009 appeared to be incorrect in the service book and his pay ought to have been fixed at Rs.5,160/- instated of Rs.5,280/- as on 01.01.2006 i.e. having a difference of Rs.120/-. As per said calculation, the office of the Accountant General came to the conclusion that the last basic pay of the petitioner would be Rs.59,000/- instead of Rs.60,800/- and a request was made by them to said Deputy Director of Horticulture to resubmit the service book of the petitioner after making proper entries of refixation of pay under ROP, 2009 and ROP, 2017 along with revised IPS and connected due and drawn statement of pay and allowances w.e.f. 01.01.2009 to 30.11.2012 under factor 1.74, w.e.f 01.12.2012 to 31.03.2015 under factor 1.86, Grade Pay w.e.f. 01.04.2015 to 31.03.2017 and thereafter, w.e.f. 01.07.2017 to 31.05.2021 along with leave salary for finalisation of the case at their end. It was also stated in the said communication that the pension and commuted value of the pension were already released on the basis of last pay of Rs.59,000/- as per the above said fixation of pay regulation withholding gratuity which would be released on receipt of the reply from the office of the Deputy Director of Horticulture.

[4] Another letter was also issued on 27.10.2021 (Annexure-7) by the Senior Accounts Officer of said office to said Deputy Director of Horticulture stating further that the refixation of pay of the petitioner under ROP, 1999 also appeared to be incorrect inasmuch as it was not clearly mentioned in the service book about the change of DNI as on 01.01.1998 instead of 01.06.1998 and therefore, request was made from the office of the Accountant General to the said office of Deputy Director of Horticulture to re-examine the matter again. Another ground was also raised from the office of the Accountant General through their another communication dated 04.01.2022 addressed to said Deputy Director of Horticulture, Shantirbazar stating that in view of the notification dated 24.06.2008 issued by the Finance Department, the substituted provision of FR-22(I) (a) (2) as per notification No.F.19(1)-