Recovery of excess salary paid for over five years due to employer error is impermissible absent employee misrepresentation.

The petitioner, a Sheristadar who had entered service as a Junior Assistant in 2000 and was later promoted to Grade I Bench Clerk, received excess pay of ₹4,02,755 due to an incorrect pay fixation.

The excess was paid from 1 October 2017 to 31 July 2026. The second respondent issued a show-cause notice concerning recovery and re-fixation of pay. The petitioner sought to quash the notice.

Whether the respondents could revise the petitioner’s pay fixation to correct an error and bring her pay into conformity with the applicable rules.

Whether recovery of the excess salary was permissible where the error was attributable to the establishment, no misrepresentation by the petitioner was established, and the excess payment had continued for more than five years.

The Court relied on State of Punjab v. Rafiq Masih, (2015) 4 SCC 334, which identifies circumstances in which recovery of excess payments may be impermissible, including where payment has continued for more than five years before the recovery order, or where recovery would be iniquitous, harsh, or arbitrary.

The Court also applied the principle that authorities may correct erroneous pay fixation and enforce the pay properly due under the applicable rules, while recovery may be barred in appropriate cases of hardship.

The Court held that the respondents could correct the pay fixation in accordance with the applicable Pay Rules and Government Orders, since public money could not be retained through an erroneous fixation.

However, the respondents had not established that the petitioner misrepresented any facts; the error was attributable to the establishment, and the excess payments had been made over a period exceeding five years. Applying Rafiq Masih, the Court considered recovery at that stage unduly harsh and set aside recovery while leaving the revised pay fixation undisturbed.

The respondents were directed to repay any amount already recovered pursuant to the impugned action within 12 weeks of receiving a copy of the order. There was no order as to costs.