The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has upheld the government’s decision to refix the salaries of a group of Class-IV employees in the Jal Shakti Department but barred the recovery of excess payments already made. The ruling comes after a long-standing dispute over pay scales granted by mistake due to misinterpretation of a withdrawn government order.
The petitioners, who were initially daily wagers and later regularised, were first placed in a lower pay band but later moves up to a higher pay scale retrospectively. This promotion was based on departmental circulars referencing SRO 59 of 1990. However, the government later discovered that SRO 59 had been withdrawn in 1996 and issued an order in 2021 to correct the pay structure and recover the excess amount disbursed.
The petitioners approached the Central Administrative Tribunal, which ruled that while the government could refix salaries, it could not recover the amounts already paid. The petitioners then challenged the Tribunal’s order before the High Court.
The High Court found that although there was no fraud or misrepresentation by the petitioners, the pay benefit was granted due to a mistake of fact. Since the employees had agreed to return benefits if later found ineligible and never claimed entitlement under SRO 59 or questioned its withdrawal, the government was within its rights to correct the error.
However, the HC also ruled that recovery of funds from employees, especially those nearing retirement, would be unfair and cause undue hardship. Referring to established legal precedent, the court emphasised that public employers can rectify factual mistakes but must avoid actions that unfairly burden employees.
The judgment thus allows the government to revise salaries but prevents any recovery of the overpaid amounts already received by the petitioners.
