Bengaluru: Placing reliance upon two Supreme Court decisions, Karnataka High Court has directed Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (Bescom) to refund the withheld amount of Rs 2.81 lakh along with 6% interest to a retired junior engineer.Justice M Nagaprasanna passed this order on Sept 25, while allowing the petition filed by N Manjunath.Manjunath superannuated from service on April 30, 2025. While fixing his pension in the pension payment order, an amount of Rs 2,81,887 was recovered on the score that erroneous pay in the form of annual increment was granted to him, about 15 years ago.Manjunath challenged the said action, arguing the annual increment was granted to him not on any fraud or misrepresentation.After perusing the materials on record, Justice Nagaprasanna noted that in Jogeshwar Sahoo vs District judge, Cuttack case, Supreme Court had observed that if the excess amount was not paid on account of any misrepresentation or fraud on the part of the employee, such excess payments of emoluments or allowances are not recoverable.Further, the top court in State of Punjab vs Rafiq Masih case had observed that there are five instances where recovery from employees is not permissible and Clause (2) deals with retired employees or employees who are to retire within a year from the order of recovery, the judge further added.In that light, the petition deserves to succeed as there is neither fraud nor misrepresentation alleged against the said petitioner for the said amount that is recovered from the pension of the petitioner, Justice Nagaprasanna further observed while directing the authorities to refund the withheld amount along with interest within eight weeks.
