Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 17: In a significant ruling, the Single Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Jammu Bench, comprising Rajinder Singh Dogra, Member (Judicial), has held that once an employee retires, recovering excess payments made due to an erroneous interpretation of rules is impermissible.
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The Tribunal relied on the Supreme Court judgment in Thomas Daniel Vs State of Kerala & Others (2022 AIR SC 2153), which established that the correctness of pay fixation can be scrutinized for a maximum of 24 months preceding retirement but cannot be questioned post-superannuation. It emphasized that long-standing irregularities, if left unaddressed, do not warrant recalculating retiral benefits, thereby reinforcing administrative accountability.
The case involved Sunil Kumar Sharma, a retired In-Charge Executive Engineer of Jal Shakti, Hydraulic Division, Ramban. Sharma was appointed as a Junior Engineer in 1992 and subsequently rose through the ranks before retiring on March 31, 2022. His pay was revised under SRO 75 of 1992, fixing it in the revised scale of Rs 1760-3200 per Finance Department’s Order Number 37 of 1992, granting him eight increments as a Degree Holder.
However, the Senior Accounts Officer, AG (A&E), in a communication dated March 16, 2022, stated that Sharma’s pay had been incorrectly fixed at Rs 2240 instead of Rs 2000 from May 1, 1992. The discrepancy led to the withholding of his gratuity amounting to Rs 9,51,710, although pension and commutation were calculated on his due last pay.
Challenging the decision through his counsel, Advocate Dinesh Singh Chauhan, Sharma sought the quashing of the March 16, 2022, communication, which had reduced his retiral benefits. The Tribunal, in its ruling, directed the Union Territory administration, represented by DAG Dewakar Sharma, to restore Sharma’s pay and pension to the pre-dispute status and release the withheld gratuity.
The judgment reiterates that Government authorities cannot retrospectively alter pay fixation errors beyond the two-year period preceding retirement. The ruling underscores the importance of administrative diligence and protects retired employees from arbitrary recoveries post-superannuation.
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