Public money can’t be retained due to employer’s error: HC; upholds recovery of excess pay from ex-soldier

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that public money cannot be permitted to remain in the hands of a person merely because a mistake originated with the employer.Justice Sandeep Moudgil passed the orders while dismissing a petition filed by former soldier Kuldip Singh Rana. He had challenged the deduction and sought fixation of pension based on his last drawn salary as a Havildar in the Army. The court upheld the recovery of Rs 66,988 from his salary and pensionary benefits, ruling that excess payments made due to administrative delay can be recovered when the employee was aware that the amount exceeded his lawful entitlement. Rana joined the Army in 1960 and was promoted to Havildar in 1990. However, in 1996 a District Court Martial found him guilty of misappropriation of govt funds. His punishment included a reduction in rank and three months of rigorous imprisonment. Due to procedural delays, the reduction in rank was formally recorded later. As a result, Rana continued to draw salary in the higher rank until his retirement in 2000. At the time of settlement of accounts, the authorities recovered Rs 66,988, which, they said, was paid in excess. Rana argued that the recovery was illegal and his pension should be fixed on the basis of the last pay drawn as Havildar. Justice Moudgil noted that once the punishment was confirmed, the petitioner was no longer legally entitled to the salary of the higher rank. "A reduction in rank is not a peripheral administrative entry but a substantive alteration of service status, directly affecting pay, responsibilities and pensionary entitlement," the judge observed. The court further held that the petitioner could not plausibly assert innocence. Since the punishment was neither hidden nor ambiguous, he could not reasonably claim he believed he was entitled to the pay of a rank he no longer held, the court said. Addressing the pension claim, the court clarified that pension must be calculated on lawful rank held at retirement, not on an amount mistakenly credited. "Pension is not calculated upon a fortuitous figure accidentally credited into an employee's account; it is computed upon the lawful emoluments attached to the rank which the employee was legally entitled to hold," the HC held while dismissing the petition. MSID:: 129552026 413 |