Madhya Pradesh High Court Cancels Recovery Order in Case of Overpayment to Employee, Finding No Fault or Misrepresentation by Her.
The Madhya Pradesh court canceled a recovery order related to an overpayment made to an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife due to an error in her salary calculation. The court was reviewing a Writ Petition that contested the recovery of about ₹5.8 lakhs from a retired nurse. She argued that she did not misrepresent her pay and that the recovery was illegal. Justice Sobodh Abhyankar, on a Single Judge Bench, acknowledged previous cases and partially granted the petition, stating that “the recovery order is hereby quashed.” The authorities were instructed to return the recovered amount with 6 percent interest from the recovery date within three months.
The court referenced a Supreme Court case, Shyam Babu Verma v. Union of India (1994), which noted that even though the petitioners were not entitled to higher pay, since the money had already been paid without any fault on their part, it should not be reclaimed. The court also mentioned Sahib Verma vs. State of Haryana (1995), highlighting that the excess payment was due to a departmental mistake, not any wrongdoing by the employee, thus recovery was not justified.In the case of Syed Abdul Kadir v. State of Bihar (2009), the Supreme Court decided that a retired government worker cannot be forced to pay back extra money if they did not make any mistakes or misrepresentations. Based on this ruling, the High Court canceled the recovery order in the current case.
Cause Title: Rooplekha Sirsath v. Public Health And Family Welfare Department And Others [2024:MPHC-IND:29984]