Sulbha Kulkarni v. the State of Maharashtra Social Justice and Special Assitance Departmnet
Case brief
What is this about?
Bombay High Court writ petitions (W.P. No. 1370 & 1368 of 2024) on recovery of inadvertently paid excess salary from superannuated employees; wrong pay fixation ('assistant librarian' paid instead of 'library Assistant'); reliance on Syed Abdul Qadir vs. State of Bihar, (2009) 3 SCC 475 and State of Punjab vs. Rafiq Masih (White Washer), AIR (2015) SC 696; recovery quashed; authorities directed to issue individual e-mail notices (min. 15 clear days), hold hearing, and refix pay within 60 days of first hearing, serving the order within 24 hours; pension recalculation on corrected fixation; liberty to seek redressal in law; rule made partly absolute; bench Ravindra V. Ghuge & Abhay J. Mantri, JJ., judgment per Ghuge, J.; decided 26th March, 2026.
What did the court decide?
Rule made partly absolute; impugned recovery quashed and set aside. Directions: (a) Respondent No. 6 to issue individual notices to all Petitioners giving at least 15 days' clear notice for the pay-fixation hearing; (b)-(c) notices and correspondence by e-mail; (d) Respondent No. 6 to arrive at proper pay fixation within 60 days from the first hearing and serve the order on the Petitioners and Management by e-mail within 24 hours of passing it; (e) pension recalculated on the fresh pay fixation and payment to commence, with the Management cooperating in submitting the revised pension proposal without delay; (f) notwithstanding pension payment per revised fixation, aggrieved parties at liberty to challenge Respondent No. 6's order by availing remedy permissible in law.