Recovery of excess pay from retired employees impermissible absent fraud or misrepresentation.

Order

(1) Challenging the order of recovery and revision of pay, dated 11.04.2025, passed by the 5^th respondent, the petitioner is before this Court, with a prayer to quash the same and for consequential direction to the 5^th respondent, to refund the sum of Rs.3,99,552/- recovered from the petitioner, along with interest at the rate of 12% per annum.

(2) Mr.M.Bindran, learned Additional Government Pleader accepts notice on behalf of the respondents 1, 2, 4 and 5. With the consent of the learned counsels on either side, the writ petition is taken up for final disposal.

(3) The case of the petitioner is that he was appointed as Leprosy Inspector in the Government Leprosy Control Unit, Dharapuram, Erode District [now Tiruppur District], on 31.01.1989. Subsequently, he was promoted as Block Health Supervisor, and was posted at Block Government Primary Health Centre, Thalavady, on 09.10.2017. Pursuant to the V Pay Commission, the Government issued G.O.Ms.No.664, dated 24.08.1992, sanctioning Personal Pay of 5% of the basic pay. The Health Inspector Grade-1B fall under the 3^rd category, namely, categories of staff in the pre-revised scale of pay of Rs.705-1230 moving over to the revised scale of pay of Rs.1200-2040 and were eligible for 5% Personal Pay. It is the case of the petitioner that he was redesignated as Health Inspector Grade-1B and hence, he is entitled to 5% Personal Pay. However, the 5^th respondent, vide order dated 11.04.2025, revised the pay scale of the petitioner and as per the revision, the excess payment made to the petitioner for the period from 01.08.1997 to 31.05.2025, to the tune of Rs.3,99,552/-, was ordered to be recovered. Further, the 4^th respondent permitted the petitioner to retire from service, on the undertaking that if any excess salary has been drawn by the petitioner, the same shall be deducted from the DCRG of the petitioner. It is the further case of the petitioner that he sent a representation dated 26.12.2025, to the respondents 2, 4 and 5, seeking refund of Rs.3,99,552/-. The grievance of the petitioner is that 5% Personal Pay has been merged with the pre- revised scale of pay and that he is eligible for pension at Rs.45,300/- instead of Rs.44,000/-. Since his representation has not been considered and seeking the aforesaid reliefs, the petitioner is before this Court, by way of the above writ petition.

(4) The learned Senior counsel for the petitioner submitted that issue in the present writ petition is squarely covered by the orders of this Court dated 27.01.2026 made in WP.Nos.1890 & 1894/2026 and WP.Nos.47695, 47697, 26183 and 26188/2025.

(5) Heard the learned counsels on either side and perused the materials placed on record.

(6) It is not in dispute that the petitioner was granted 5% Personal Pay and the same was merged with the revised scale of pay pursuant to the proceedings of the competent authority. The impugned order seeks to refix the pay by merging the 5% Personal Pay with the pre-revised scale and consequently, to reduce the pension and to recover a sum of Rs.3,99,552/-, from the DCRG benefits of the petitioner. Admittedly, the alleged excess payment was not on account of any misrepresentation or fraud on the part of the petitioner.

(7) The Hon’ble Supreme Court in State of Punjab Vs. Rafiq Masih [White Washer] reported in 2015 [4] SCC 334, has categorically held that recovery from retired employees is impermissible in law, particularly when the excess payment was not attributable to any misrepresentation or fraud on the part of the employee. The said principle has been followed by the Government in G.O.Ms.No.286, dated 28.08.2018, wherein it has been clarified that no recovery shall be made