The Gauhati High Court has ruled that excess gratuity paid to a retired employee cannot be recovered if there is no evidence of misrepresentation or fraud on the employee’s part. The Court held that such recoveries are unjust when the overpayment results from the employer’s own calculations.
The case involved a former forest officer who joined service in 1976 and retired in 2011. At the time of retirement, he received gratuity of Rs 6.76 lakh. Following a revision in pension benefits, an additional Rs 1.54 lakh was released, taking the total to Rs 8.30 lakh. The revision came after the employee was granted a retrospective promotion during ongoing litigation related to his service benefits.
Subsequently, the office of the Accountant General flagged the payment as excessive, stating that the admissible gratuity should have been capped at Rs 7 lakh. Based on this, a recovery order of Rs 1.30 lakh was issued, citing a technical error in earlier calculations.
The retired officer challenged this move, arguing that the payment had been computed and disbursed by the authorities themselves, with no fault or concealment on his part. He maintained that recovering the amount after retirement was unfair and unlawful.
After reviewing the case, the Court set aside the recovery order, stating that such action was arbitrary and inconsistent with established legal principles. It emphasised that employees cannot be penalised for administrative errors made by departments.
The Court further directed the authorities to refund the recovered amount within three months. It also stated that any delay in repayment would attract an interest of 6 per cent per annum, reinforcing accountability in handling pension-related dues.
