Manohar Saikia v. The State of Assam and 4 Ors

ORDER

21.06.2023.

¶1Heard Mr. D. P. Borah, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. P. N. Sarma, learned Standing Counsel for the Elementary Education Department representing the respondent Nos. 1, 3 and 5, Mr. S. R. Baruah, learned Standing Counsel for the Director of Pension representing the respondent No. 4 and Mr. A. Chaliha, learned Standing Counsel for the Finance Department representing the respondent Nos. 2.

¶2The present writ petition is filed assailing an order dated 24.07.2021 issued by the Finance & Accounts Officer, Directorate of Pension, Assam.

¶3By the aforesaid order, it was concluded that while sending pension proposal of the petitioner who retired from service on June, 2019 as an Assistant Teacher of Kameswar Borthakur M. V. School, Kampur, Nagoan, his scale of pay was wrongly calculated @ Rs. 9700/- instead of Rs. 9530/- on 01.01.1989.

¶4Thereafter a proposal was made regarding recovery of excess payment drawn by the petitioner on the basis of such wrong fixation of scale of pay. Accordingly, this Court under its order dated 17.11.2021, while issuing notice of motion directed the respondents to continue with Page No.# 3/4 the provisional pension.

¶5Mr. P. N. Sarma, learned Standing Counsel for the Elementary Education Department, on instruction submits that the pension proposal of the petitioner has already been forwarded to the Director of Pension with a request to waive the excess drawl and not to propose for recovery in terms of the Finance Department Notification dated 27.01.2022.

¶6Mr. Sarma, learned Standing Counsel submits that all other benefits including DCRG, Leave encashment, GIS etc. has already been transferred to the account of the petitioner.

¶7Mr. Baruah, learned Standing Counsel for the Pension Department, submits that when a pension proposal is received in the Directorate, the same is generally settled within a period of one month, however, since there is some question of waiver, the department shall be able to complete the process within a period of two months.

¶8In view of the aforesaid consensus, the present writ petition is disposed of with a direction that the regular pension proposal of the petitioner be settled at the Directorate of Pension within a period of two months from the date of receipt of the certified copy of this order. The petitioner is given a liberty to download a copy of this order from the website and served the same before the Directorate of Pension to bring to the notice of the Director, the order passed today.

¶9It is needless to say that though recovery is waived, the pension should be fixed at the correct scale of pay. Page No.# 4/4

¶10Accordingly this writ petition is disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010179082021 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/6062/2021o MANOHARoSAIKIAo S/O.oLT.oMANICHANDAoSAIKIA,oVILL.oDAKSHINoPAToBHAKAToGAON,oP.O.o CHANGCHAKI,oDIST.oNAGAON,oASSAM. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo4oORSo REP.oBYoTHEoCOMM.oANDoSECY.oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oEDUCATIONo (ELEMENTARY)oDEPTT.,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI-781006. 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARY oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oFINANCEoDEPTT. oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-06. 3:THEoDIRECTORoOFoELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oASSAM oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI. 4:THEoDIRECTORoOFoPENSION oASSAMoHOUSEFEDoCOMPLEX oGUWAHATI-06. 5:THEoDISTRICToELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoOFFICER oNAGAON oASSAMo Page No.# 2/4 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. D P BORAH Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN DEV CHOUDHURY