Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 22: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has held that excess payment of allowance paid by the employer to the employee by applying wrong principle or particular interpretation cannot be recovered after superannuation of employee.
The bench presided over by D S Mahra (member-J) quashed the order of recovery of the excess amount paid to the applicant during his service tenure. The aggrieved employee-Syed Abdul Rauf was working as Incharge Education Officer in the School Education Department of Jammu and Kashmir.
He was appointed on deputation in J&K Board of School Education (BOSE) as Incharge Joint Secretary in 2012 and was sanctioned charge allowance for a specific period. Subsequently, the applicant was again appointed as Incharge Secretary for a period of two years on 19.03.2015. The term of the applicant came to an end on 18.03.2017.
Subsequently, the sanction of charge allowance was withdrawn on 07.02.2017 by the respondents on the ground that the applicant was asked to perform the duties on a higher post since he was already holding the post of Chief Education Officer on Incharge basis. Therefore, the applicant was not entitled for a further charge allowance.
He challenged the order dated 07.02.2017 before the High Court and his plea was allowed by the High Court on 26.07.2024. 2. In the meantime, he attained superannuation on 31.03.2019. Subsequently, the respondent-Board issued an order dated 09.06.2020 by which they ordered for recovery of the excess amount paid to him during his tenure as Incharge Joint Secretary.
He challenged the said order before the CAT and the CAT bench quashed the order dated 09.06.2020 with the directions to BOSE authorities not to recover any amount from the payable amount to the applicant-Rouf after his superannuation and process the payment of retiral balance dues.
The counsel for the respondent-BOSE fairly submitted that the charge allowance has been paid to the applicant-Rouf erroneously and the recovery of paid charge allowance to him was necessary and inevitable in view of the fact that the applicant was not entitled to charge allowance and was paid wrongly.
The CAT bench said that the excess payment, if not paid on account of any mis-representation or fraud by the employee, or if such excess payment was made by the employer by applying a wrong principle for calculating the pay or allowance or on the basis of particular interpretation of rule or order, which is subsequently found to be erroneous, such excess payment of emoluments or allowances are not recoverable.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
