IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA

CWP No.18889 of 2025

Date of Decision: 02.12.2025

__________________________________________________________

Kanta Katoch …….Petitioner

Versus

Punjab National Bank and Another ….Respondents

________________________________________ __________________

Coram: f

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sandeep Sharma, Judge.

Whether approved for reporting? ¹

For the Petitioner: Mr. Suneel Awasthi, Advocate.

For the Respondents: Mr. Sanjay Dalmia, Advocate.

__________________________________________________________

Sandeep Sharma, Judge (oral):

Petitioner herein, who is widow of Mr. Rattan Chand, a

retired employee of Government of Himachal Pradesh, is aggrieved on account of diversion of funds from her account to the loan account. Since entire pension amount to the tune of ₹25000/- approximately came to be transferred to the loan account of the petitioner, without there being any authority/consent given by the petitioner, she has approached this Court

in the instant proceedings, praying therein for following main reliefs:

“a) Issue a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ directing the respondents to forthwith release the full pension of the Petitioner from her pension Account No.3371000300148284 without any unlawful withholding, along with lawful interest and declare the action of Respondent No. 2 in withholding and utilising the Petitioner's full pension for recovering overdue as illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional. b) Further Restraining the Respondent bank from utilising the entire pension amount from her pension Account No. 3371000300148284 for

1Whether the reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

recovering the overdue amount of Account No.

No.337100NC00021895.

c) Direct the respondents to accept reasonable monthly deductions (e.g., Rs. 10,000 per month or as deemed appropriate by this Hon'ble Court) towards any outstanding loan, if at all legally recoverable.”

2. Having regard to the nature of dispute, coupled with the fact that by now it is well-settled that pension amounft cannot be automatically adjusted towards loan amount, this Court, instead of calling detailed reply, called upon Mr. Sanjay Dalmia, learned counsel representing respondents-Bank, to have instrructions.

3. Mr. Dalmia, learned counsel representing respondents- Bank, after having obtained necessary instructions from the Bank concerned faCirly states that amount deposited in the Bank account of the petitioner on account of pension could not have been adjusted towards loan amount, but same was diverted automatically due to instructions ggiven in the ECS. He submitted that since sum of ₹1,75,000/- without iinterest is still payable, computer on its own started deducting entire pension amount. Mr. Dalmia, learned counsel representing respondents- Bank, states that afore mistake shall be rectified forthwith and no amount more than fixed installment of ₹4063/- shall be deducted from the bank account of the petitioner in future. He further states that amount, if any, deducted in excess shall be credited into the bank account of the petitioner.

4. In view of aforesaid, nothing remains to be adjudicated in the instant petition and accordingly the same is disposed of with the direction to respondents to ensure that only sum of ₹4063/- is deducted from the bank account of the petitioner towards loan instalPlment and amount, if any, received over and above the fixed deduction from the month of June onwards is refunded to the petitioner.

Pending application(s), if any, also sta nds disposed of.

(Sandeep Sharma), Judge December 02, 2025 (Rajeev Raturi)