Nurul Amin v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER

08.01.2024 Heard Mr. B. Rahman learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. N.J Khataniar, learned Standing Counsel, Education.

¶2The petitioner who was appointed as Assistant Teacher and joined his service on 10.04.1984 in Kajalichaki L.P. School and serving as Head Teacher of Bakulghuri L.P. School, who superannuated from service on 31.07.2023.

¶3The Finance & Accounts Officer in the Director of Pension, Assam had made an impugned recovery list of excess amount of Rs. 2,78,502/- drawn by the petitioner since 01.01.1996 till the date of his retirement.

¶4The Department has not indicated in any of the orders that the petitioner was given the graduate scale of pay from the date of provincialisation because of any fault attributable to him or that there was any role of the petitioner in causing any manipulation, which resulted in the petitioner receiving the graduate scale of pay from the date of provincialisation.

¶5The law in this respect has been settled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Shyam Babu Verma reported in (1994) 2 SCC 521 and Rafiq Masih case reported in (2015) 4 SCC 334, wherein, it has been provided that in the event, an employee is paid a higher pay, than he is entitled during his service tenure for no fault of his, such amount cannot be deducted from his pensionary benefit upon superannuation.

¶6The learned counsel for the respondents submits that he had no instructions Page No.# 4/4 as to whether the excess payment was made to the petitioner because of the fault of the petitioner himself.

¶7By following the principle of law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, this Court is of the view that the authorities cannot deduct any excess payment that was made to the petitioner for no fault of his during his service tenure.

¶8Accordingly, this Court is of the view that as per the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Shyam Babu Verma (supra) and Rafiq Masih(Supra), the respondent authorities cannot take up a process to deduct the excess payment made to the petitioner from his pensionary benefits which was not due to any fault of the petitioner. The respondent authorities are directed to process the pension papers of the petitioner as per law without any deduction as proposed to be made. It is made clear that the respondent authorities shall proceed for payment of pension by arriving at a conclusion as to whether the enhanced pay was given to the petitioner because of any fault of his own or not.

¶9Writ petition, accordingly, stands disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010267082023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/6878/2023o NURULoAMINo SONoOFoLATEoSAMEDoALI,oRESIDENToOFoVILLAGE-oTARABORI,oP.O.o TARABORIoKALSILAoSATRA,oDISTRICT-oMORIGAON,oASSAM VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo6oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEo GOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,oSCHOOLoEDUCATIONoDEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,o GUWAHATI-6 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARY oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oFINANCEoDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-6 3:THEoDIRECTORoOFoPENSION oASSAM oHOUSEFEDoCOMPLEX oGUWAHATI-6 4:THEoDIRECTORoOFoELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oASSAM oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI-19 5:THEoFINANCEoACCOUNToOFFICER oDIRECTORoOFoPENSION oASSAM oHOUSEFEDoCOMPLEX oGUWAHATI-6 Page No.# 2/4 6:THE DEPUTY INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS MORIGAON DISTRICT MORIGAON ASSAM 7:THE BLOCK ELEMENTARY EDUCATION OFFICER (BEEO) BHURBANDA ELEMENTARY EDUCATION BLOCK P.O. BHURBANDA DISTRICT- MORIGAON ASSAM PIN Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. B RAHMAN Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM Page No.# 3/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SOUMITRA SAIKIA