The Patna High Court, while disposing of a petition filed for quashing the order dated 31.05.2010 passed by Medical Officer-in-Charge Primary Health Centre, whereby the amount of recovery was fixed, without jurisdiction and without obtaining any order from a superior competent authority, held that employees in the lower rung of service spend their entire earnings on the upkeep and welfare of their family, and if such excess payment is allowed to be recovered from them, it would cause them more hardship than the reciprocal gains to the employer.
Brief Facts:
The petitioner was initially appointed as an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife on the then-existing Pay Scale. The regular annual increments were granted to the petitioner, and accordingly, the pay scale of the petitioner was fixed and revised from time to time, including granting her annual increment and other allowances. The petitioner is aggrieved by the alleged illegal action of the respondents, who found that the petitioner had not passed the Hindi Noting and Drafting Examination and suo moto directed for recovery of incremented amount for the period from 12.12.1984 till 30.10.2009.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
The Learned Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that the petitioner serving as an A.N.M. (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife) is exempted from passing Hindi Noting-Drafting Examination as she is a Matriculate with Hindi as one of the subjects and also she is not concerned with the work of noting and drafting in the course of discharge of her duties. Even then, for future promotion, etc., she has already passed the said examination.
Contentions of the Respondent:
The Learned Counsel for the Respondent submitted that all the government employees except the class-IV employees, who are in the discharge of their official duties, have to do some correspondence and have to prepare some reports, etc. and pass the Hindi Noting and Drafting Examination within one year of their joining, failing which the next annual increment shall not be allowed.
Observations of the Court:
The Court noted that in case of any incorrect calculation having been made in salary or any benefit which has been granted to an employee during his service period incorrectly, the same should have been deducted within a very short span of time.
The Court observed that recovery from employees in the lower rung of service would result in extreme hardship to them. This is because employees in the lower rung of service would spend their entire earnings on the upkeep and welfare of their family, and if such excess payment is allowed to be recovered from them, it would cause them more hardship than the reciprocal gains to the employer. Hence, employees belonging to the lower rungs of service should not be subjected to the ordeal of any recovery, even though they were beneficiaries of receiving higher emoluments than were due to them. Such recovery would be arbitrary and breach the mandate contained in Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
The decision of the Court:
The Patna High Court, dismissing the petition, held that the deliberate action of the CDPO for recovery is not in accordance with the law, and the same process of recovery has been initiated without providing her proper opportunity for a hearing.
Case Title: Sita Kumari v The State of Bihar & Ors.
Coram: Hon’ble Justice Purnendu Singh
Case No.: Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.22614 of 2011
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Shambhu Sharan Singh
Advocate for the Respondents: Mr. Rakesh Prabhat
Read Judgment @LatestLaws.com
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