. . I ”h (LC: \6‘5? IN THE HON'LBEL HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR w. P. (S) No. ‘HWV/2o11 /’ Rekh Ram Sahu S/o Shri K Sahu aged about- 66 years, PETITIONER Retd. Upper Division Teacher, —- Mokhla, P.O. Village Bharregaon, Block Rajnandgaon, District— Rajnandgaon (C.G.) Versus RESPONDENTS State of Through:- The Education Department, D.K.S. Bhawan Raipur, Distt.- Raipur District Education Officer, Rajnandgaon, District- Rajnandgaon (C.G.) Block Education Officer, Rajnandgaon, District- Rajnandgaon (C.G.) Treasury Officer, Rajnandgaon District- Rajnandgaon (C.G.) Chhattisgarh, Secretary, WRIT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 226 OF THE CONSTITUTION i ' OF INDIA. w HIGH COURT OF CHHA'I“1‘ISGARH AT BILASPUR WRIT PETITION (S) N0. 442 0f2011 WRIT pE'rrrION UNDER ARTICLE 226 OF THE CONS'HTUHON OF INDIA s3: Hon’ble smi Satish K, Agm‘hom', J. Present: Shri Anup Majumdar, Advocaie for the petitioner. Shri Y.S.Thakur, Deputy Advocate General for the State/respondents. ORDER ORAL * (Passed on 25 day of January, 2011) 1. The petitioner, while working as Upper Division Teacher, retired from service on 31.07.2006 on attaining the age ofsuperannuation. The petitioner is aggrieved by the order dated 27.11.2006, whereunder a sum of Rs. 33,136/- has been deducted from his pensionary benetits, holding it to be excess payment made to the petitioner during the course ofhis service. According to Shri Majumdar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner. the impugned recovery has been made without atfording 1, an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner, and fuither, the issue asto whether recovery of excess payment can be made without following principles of natural justice is no longer res integra, the same has been settled by the Supreme Court in the matter ofSahib Ram v. State ofHaryana and othersl, and further followed by this Court in the matter of Vidyadhar Tiwarz‘ v. The State of Chham'sgarh & Othersz and Vidya Shankar Tiwari v. State ofMP. Wow State ofChhattisgarh) and others3 and thereatter followed in several decisions. This Court in Ramchcmdra Kump v. State ofC.G. & Others" and other connected matters, observed as under : v. ‘ 1995 Supp (1)scc 18 l 2005 (1) MPHT 105 (CG) 3200562)MPHr31 (CG) ~ ...... __ 4 2010 (3) CGLJ 400 PETITIONER Rekh Ram Sahu. VERSUS RESPONDENTS State of Chhattisgarh & Others. “19. A common thread running into the above decisiOns of the Suprame Court is that, for recovery of excess payment of emoluments/allowances, there are three condflion's wherein the excess payment may be recovered, namely (.i) excess payment was made on account of misrepresentation I or fraud on the part of the employee, (ii) the employee had knowledge that the payment received was in excess, and (iii) the error was corrected within a short span of time of wrong payment...... ” Shri Thakun teamed Deputy Advocate General appearing for the State/respondents does not controvert the submissions made by learned counsel for the petitioner and submits that this matter may he disposed ot'in the same terms. In View of the foregoing and as admitted by leamed counsel appearing for the parties, this petition is disposed of in the terms of the order passed in the case ofRamchancZra Kump". i.e. the impugned order dated 27.11.2006 regarding recovery of amount from the gratuity and other dues of the petitioner on account of excess payment, is hereby quashed. The petitioner is entitled to full pensionary benetits/gratuity amount without any deduction. Ifthe amount has been recovered, the petitioner is entitled to the said amount with interest at the rate of6% per annum. However, it is open to the respondents to take recourse to Rule 65 of the Chhattisgarh Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1976, if so advised, in accordance with law, after following basic principles of natural justice. It is further made clear that in the event before recovery ofthe alleged excess payment was made, a show cause notice was issued and reply was tiled by the petitioner to the same, the case ofthe petitioner may not be treated to be covered by the decision ofthis Court in Ramchandra Kump4 . Sd/-' Satish K. Agnihotri Judge Amit