Sarat Ch. Dutta v. the State of Assam and 5 Ors.
Case brief
What is this about?
Recovery/hold-back of salary and allowances (with arrears, July 2012–March 2016) from the retirement benefits of an employee who overstayed in service because the P&RD authorities failed to issue a timely superannuation order; Gauhati High Court follows State of Punjab v. Rafiq Masih (White Washer), (2015) 4 SCC 334, to bar recovery where the employee bears no fault for the overstay; interim restraint on recovering Rs. 10,000/- from pension made absolute; reimbursement of recovered amounts within 3 months; liberty to recalculate pension with notional superannuation 30.06.2012 and issue fresh PPO; no affidavit-in-opposition filed; writ disposed (Justice Rajesh Mazumdar, 04.02.2026). Keywords: excess salary recovery, overstay beyond superannuation, notional superannuation, pension recalculation, employer's error, P&RD Assam, Accountant General, writ petition.
What did the court decide?
Writ petition disposed of: earlier interim order made absolute — no recovery from the petitioner's pension on the ground of overstay (30.06.2012 to 31.03.2016); any amount already recovered from pensionary benefits on that ground to be reimbursed within 3 months of receipt of certified copy of the order; respondents at liberty to recalculate pensionary benefits taking notional date of superannuation as 30.06.2012, adjust the pension and issue a fresh pension payment order, with the petitioner to deposit his PPO on demand; parties to bear their own costs.