Arun Valu Tambekar & Ors. v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors.

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard finally, by the consent of the Parties. The learned advocates representing the Respondent Zilla Parishad, Nashik agrees that the Petitioners are identically placed.

The Petitioners are the original employees who were working with the Respondent Zilla Parishad and superannuated from employment. All of them were subjected to recovery of amounts, purportedly for the reason that excess amounts were paid to them, under wrongful revised pay scales/erroneous revised pay scales, on the basis of acquiring the certificate of MS-CIT etc. These pay scales were revised Sneha Chavan SNEHA NITIN CHAVAN SNEHA NITIN CHAVAN 2 923-WP-1408-2024 (2).odt more than a decade ago.

The grievance of these Petitioners is that recoveries have been initiated against them, from their retiral benefits/pensionary benefits. In some cases, amounts have already been recovered. A chart showing the details of the petitioners, their dates of superannuation, dates of impugned orders and amounts recovered from their retiral benefits/pensionary benefits, is as under:- Sr. No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Name of the Petitioners Date of retirement Arun Valu Tambekar

30.04.2022

Ramdas Kacharu Dhatrak Nirmala Karbhari Hire Jayashri Dilip Pawar Prakash Shriram Badgujar Mangla Ganpat Deshmukh Sharda Sarjerao Shingare Bapu Nathu Gangurde Mangal Yuvraj Suryawanshi Meghavati Baburao Sonawane Lata Nimba Adhav Bhaulal Murlidhar Varpe Bapu s/o Shivaba Deore Alka Shridhar Jadhav Pushpa Arvind Geet Pratibha Vilas Kudake Bebi Daga Pawar Nandini Gangadhar Kajale Dilip Jagannath Shinde Meera Dinkar Khose Mangala Arun Pawar 31/10/2020 31/05/2019 31/05/2020 31/12/2020 30/04/2021 30/04/2021 31/05/2020 30/04/2019 28/02/2021 28/02/2022 31/05/2020 31/05/2021 31/05/2021 30/06/2021 31/01/2021 30/06/2020 31/05/2021 30/06/2020 30/06/2021 30/04/2020 Date of Impugned recovery 13/09/2022 17/09/2020 13/09/2019 07/10/2020 29/04/2022 28/07/2021 20/03/2021 26/11/2020 05/10/2018 23/10/2021 15/02/2022 03/08/2021 21/09/2021 13/12/2020 23/10/2021 25/03/2021 05/08/2020 09/07/2021 26/11/2020 03/08/2021 05/08/2020 Recovered amount 2,14,855 1,60,791 73,908 1,66,595 1,20,792 1,22,294 1,55,247 59,653 48,777 72,853 2,90,727 1,35,675 1,62,199 1,11,934 3,73,539 1,11,154 80,238 11,314 86,915 93,756 62,388 Sneha Chavan 3 923-WP-1408-2024 (2).odt 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 Bharati Popat Pawar Tryambak Dhondu Pawar Ganesh Shankar Pardeshi Vijaykumar Jibhau More Devram Pandu Shardul Yogendra Pandharinath Page Damu Devaram Dhumse Sha Nisar Ahemad Ah.

Lateef Bhagwan Bhila Sonawane Sonyabapu Devram Thorat Kusum Mukund Jagtap Arun Laxman Patil Namdeo s/o Rambhau Pagar Ravindra s/o Dattatray Lachake Ramdas Mohan Desale Vijaya Dattatraya Avhad Hirabai Balu Khatele Shobha Shankar Buwa Shaila Pradeep Kulkarni Bharati Rajaram Deshpande Kisan s/o Prabhakar Hire Suryamala Mukund Borase Maya Pandharinath Shinde Prabhakar Ukhaji Kasare Ramesh s/o Vitthal Ahire Pundalik Yashwant Jopale (Died) Through Its LRS Vimal Pundalik Jopale Gangadhar Govind Jopale Namdeo Ramchandra Gaikwad Dhanraj Mahadu Ghuge Sunanda Ishwarlal Chaudhari Bhaskar Shravan Chavan Prakash Shankar Khairnar Sunanda Ananda Jadhav Parshram Narayan Chavan Popat Nimba Bhoye 31/10/2019 31/05/2020 30/04/2019 31/05/2021 31/05/2021 31/03/2020 31/05/2019 31/05/2019 31/05/2021 31/10/2023 31/03/2020 31/03/2019 31/05/2022 28/02/2022 31/05/2020 28/02/2022 31/05/2019 30/04/2019 31/03/2021 31/10/2020 31/05/2022 29/02/2020 31/03/2021 30/04/2020 31/05/2020 30/06/2021 31/01/2020 15/01/2021 30/11/2018 01/06/2021 13/08/2021 08/10/2020 08/07/2019 16/10/2019 01/11/2021 28/10/2020 18/06/2020 21/02/2019 12/10/2022 15/06/2022 05/08/2020 28/02/2022 10/07/2019 10/09/2018 13/02/2021 04/12/2021 23/11/2022 10/11/2020 13/02/2021 02/08/2021 91,900 1,19277 47,671 1,02,585 55,464 97,805 48,353 76,546 1,64,501 2,15,686 1,79,163 46,628 3,80,263 2,36,181 1,02,917 2,03,277 78,515 65,741 1,67,848 1,67,325 2,13,668 53,696 2,44,396 1,91,372 90,000 1,52,510 30/06/2021 30/06/2021 31/12/2021 31/05/2022 31/05/2022 31/05/2022 31/08/2022 30/08/2022 31/05/2021 28/07/2021 21/08/2021 10/02/2022 13/07/2022 29/07/2021 02/11/2022 15/12/2022 16/06/2022 28/07/2021 3,05,345 1,29,484 1,89,863 1,49,317 1,27,642 5,99,091 2,51,481 2,17,312 1,39,896 Sneha Chavan 4 923-WP-1408-2024 (2).odt 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 Vijay Chiman Dusane (Died) Through Its LRS Surekha Vijay Dusane Chandrakant Bhagavantrao Shinde Dhanaji Rajaram Warungase Sushila Bhausaheb Gaikwad Uttam Bhagwant Nirbhavane Ramesh Shamrao Sonwane Jyoti Pandharinath Nikumbh Rajendra Karbhari Gangurde Ashok Karbhari Gangurde Nirmala Ukhaji Nikam Dasharath Bhaurao Chitte Balkrishana Shankar Pathade Mangala Gopichand Ahirrao Meena Sitaram Nikam Kiran Damodhar Wagh Mandakini Kiran Wagh Vasant Maharu Bachchav Prakash Pandurang Talape Subhash Sakharam Jagzap Asha Bhikaji Ahire Shobha Murlidhar Suryawanshi Rakhmabai Balkrushna Pawar Rajendra Gangadhar Bankar Hiralal Punjaram Shevale Gorakhnath Pandharinath Pardeshi Sunanda Navasa Ahire Sunanda Ramchandra Nikam Surekah Dattatray Pathak Rajni Panditrao Ushir Prakash Laxman Vaishnav Pramila Ashok Mohite Bhausaheb Yashwant Kangane Sharda Ashok Chaudhari Gangadhar Baburao Dhatrak Anita Rajendrakumar Nagarkar Shashikant Gorakhanath Ahire Vimal Bhagvant Shinde 25/03/2019 24/10/2019 2,39,698 31/12/2021 22/04/2022 1,84,583 31/05/2020 30/06/2019 31/03/2018 30/06/2019 31/01/2020 30/11/2021 30/11/2019 28/02/2021 31/03/2021 31/07/2020 31/03/2020 30/06/2020 30/04/2018 31/08/2020 31/05/2021 31/05/2021 31/05/2022 30/05/2021 31/05/2022 31/01/2022 31/08/2022 31/05/2020 31/05/2021 31/05/2019 30/06/2020 31/05/2021 31/10/2018 31/08/2022 30/09/2022 31/05/2022 31/07/2022 31/05/2022 30/09/2022 31/05/2022 31/05/2021 17/12/2020 30/01/2020 12/09/2018 14/06/2019 18/11/2020 01/12/2021 30/01/2020 28/02/2021 19/07/2021 05/08/2020 09/10/2020 26/09/2020 13/11/2017 02/11/2020 14/08/2021 19/07/2021 18/05/2020 07/07/2021 17/03/2022 10/08/2022 15/04/2023 05/08/2020 20/03/2021 17/12/2019 10/12/2020 07/07/2021 15/12/2018 20/07/2022 20/10/2022 07/09/2022 28/09/2022 05/07/2022 19/08/2022 21/11/2022 03/08/2021 94,996 4,57,110 2,80,799 1,18,152 2,11,339 60,917 78,446 1,36,003 1,33,815 1,12,058 1,42,799 96,032 33,751 1,07,743 88,805 1,67,523 2,33,158 1,68,612 1,97,341 1,92,784 1,88,598 91,381 2,05,663 53,290 87,680 1,46,038 34,911 3,56,139 2,59,789 2,70,635 1,34,038 1,39,293 2,28,740 2,82,932 1,54,344 Sneha Chavan 5

We have considered the strenuous submissions of the learned Advocates. It is, however, undisputed that none of these Petitioners had played any fraud or were personally involved in the wrongful revision of their pay scales or orchestrating a wrongful revision by manipulating the record. There is no allegation of fraud or deceit against any of them. No undertaking was acquired from them, as and when the revised pay scale become payable. In some cases, at the stroke of retirement, a condition was imposed that they should execute an undertaking and in these coercive circumstances, that undertakings were extracted from some of them.

The learned Advocate representing the Zilla Parishad as well as the learned A.G.P., submit that once an undertaking is executed, the case of the Petitioners would be covered by the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in High Court of Punjab and Haryana and others vs. Jagdev Singh, 2016 AIR (SCW) 3523. Reliance is placed on the judgment delivered by this Court (Aurangabad Bench) on 1.9.2021, in Writ Petition No. 13262 of 2018 filed by Ananda Vikram Baviskar Vs. State of Maharashtra and others.

We have referred to the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in High Court of Punjab and Haryana and others vs. Jagdev Singh (supra). However, the record reveals that no undertaking was taken from these Petitioners when the pay scales were revised. The undertakings from some of them were taken at the stroke of their retirement.

An undertaking has to be taken from the candidate on the day 6 the revised pay scale is made applicable to him and the payment commences. At the stroke of superannuation of the said employee, asking him to tender an undertaking, practically amounts to an afterthought on the part of the employer and a mode of compelling the candidate to execute an undertaking since they are apprehensive that their retiral benefits would not be released until such undertaking is executed. Such an undertaking will not have the same sanctity as that of an undertaking executed when the payment of revised pay scale had commenced. We, therefore, respectfully conclude that the view taken in High Court of Punjab and Haryana and others vs. Jagdev Singh (supra), would not be applicable to the case of these Petitioners, more so, since the recovery is initiated after their superannuation.

Taking into account that these Petitioners were not involved in any mischief, fraud or deceit in orchestrating their wrongful pay revision, the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Syed Abdul Qadir vs. State of Bihar and others, 2009 (3) SCC 475 and State of Punjab and other vs.