Post-retirement recovery of excess pay is impermissible where payments span more than five years.

The petitioner retired on 31 May 2023.

By order dated 19 January 2024, the second respondent ordered recovery of alleged excess payments said to have commenced in 1997.

The petitioner was a Group C employee, and the respondents did not allege that the excess payments resulted from his misrepresentation.

The petitioner objected to recovery but accepted pay refixation.

He challenged the recovery order under Article 226 of the Constitution.

Whether recovery of alleged excess salary paid to the petitioner could be ordered after his retirement, where the payments had commenced more than five years before the recovery order.

Whether the respondents’ pay refixation could be sustained notwithstanding the prohibition on recovery.

In State of Punjab v. Rafiq Masih (White Washer), (2015) 4 SCC 334, the Supreme Court identified circumstances in which recovery of mistaken excess payments is impermissible, including recovery from Group C or Group D employees; from retired employees or those due to retire within one year; and where the excess payment was made for more than five years before the recovery order.

The High Court also exercised its jurisdiction under Article 226 to review and grant relief against the impugned order.

The petitioner’s case fell within multiple categories identified in Rafiq Masih: he was a Group C employee, the recovery order was made after his retirement, and the alleged excess payments began in 1997—more than five years before the 2024 order.

As the respondents did not contend that the payments resulted from the petitioner’s misrepresentation, the Court held that recovery would cause hardship and was impermissible.

The petitioner had accepted refixation, so the Court distinguished that measure from recovery and left the refixation undisturbed.

The impugned order dated 19 January 2024 was quashed insofar as it ordered recovery, while the pay refixation was confirmed.

Any amount already recovered was to be repaid without interest within three months of receipt of the order.

Connected miscellaneous petitions were closed, with no order as to costs.