Years), iii. Disabled Member Pension, iv. Family Pension v. Dependent Parents Pension, vi. Nominee Pension

1. Heard Sri A.C. Tiwari(Ac), learned counsel for petitioner and Sri Jagdish Pathak, learned counsel for respondents.

2. The petitioner is retired on 31.12.2018 from the post of Senior Assistant in District Office Cooperative Federation, Gorakhpur. It is a case of petitioner that by an order dated 01.11.2018, petitioner's pension was fixed as Rs.5,768/-, however, later on an order was passed on 18.05.2023 to recover Rs.2,32,104/- on ground that pension was wrongly fixed and said amount was paid in excess.

3. The aforesaid order was challenged by petitioner in Writ Petition No. 11094 of 2023. This Court has stayed the order of recovery by interim order dated 14.07.2023.

4. The petitioner further submits that recovery was stopped but pension was also stayed, therefore, he has approached this Court by way of filing second writ petition bearing No.5702 of 2025 that his monthly pension be paid along with arrears.

5. Learned counsel for petitioner submits that now pension is being paid, however, it is on revised amount and it has been reduced to Rs. 2,714 without any reason.

6. Learned counsel for respondent has referred following paragraphs of supplementary counter affidavit filed in Writ Petition No.11094 of 2023 :- "3. That it is respectfully submitted that the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (hereinafter, the Act) was enacted with the aim of providing social security to the workers of the country, initially through Provident Fund by way of Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 1952. With the passage of time, Pension and Insurance benefits were also introduced through the corresponding schemes. As on date, three Schemes, the Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 1952 (EPF Scheme, for brevity), the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS, 1995, for brevity) and Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976 (EDLI Scheme, 1976, for brevity) have been framed under the Act which aim to extend social security benefit to the employees working across a wide array of establishments either during their sunset years or in hours of need to their beneficiaries.

4. That under the above framework, an employer of an establishment to which the Act applies has to deposit both, the employees' & employer's, share of contributions on or before the fifteenth day of the month subsequent to the wage month. The employee contributions are paid are invested in the Provident Fund administered by the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (hereinafter, 'EPFO') and the contributions of the employer are invested in the Provident Fund as well as the pooled Pension Fund administered by the EPFO. Under the Employees' Pension Scheme- 1995, the following types of pension are disbursed- i. Superannuation Pension( after attaining the age of 58 Years), ii. Reduced Pension( between the age of 50 Years to 57 Years), iii. Disabled Member Pension, iv. Family Pension, v. Dependent Parents Pension, vi. Nominee Pension.

5. That once a member becomes eligible for getting his pension the same is calculated on the basis of the Pensionable Service as well as the Pensionable Salary drawn by the member during his service to arrive at the rightful monthly pension amount. Once the same is decided a Pension Payment Order (PPO) is issued in the name of the pensioner / his or her beneficiaries. The monthly pension is paid out of the pooled Pension Fund to pensioners of EPFO.

6. That pursuant to the provisions of Act and Scheme the pension is given by the Employee Provident Fund department to the member on the basis of his contributory service period for which he and his employer had deposited the provident fund contribution to the Employee Provident Fund department.

7. That in the present case the petitioner was working on the post of Senior Assistant in District Office Cooperative Federation, Gorakhpur branch of M/s U.P. Cooperative Federation Ltd., Lucknow who superannuated on 31.12.2018 and has preferred pension from 58 years of agethe date which the petitioner attained on 31.12.2016.So U.P. Cooperative Federation, Gorakhpur was the employer of the petitioner and during the period of his service the provident fund contribution was deposited by both employer and employee to the respondent Employees Provident Fund Organization as per the provisions of Employee Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952 and The Employee' Pension Scheme, 1995.

8. That the petitioner was working in M/s UP Cooperative Federation Ltd., Lucknow bearing EPF Code UPLK00002632000 which falls under the jurisdiction of EPFO Regional Office, Lucknow. However, the petitioner decided to draw his pension at Gorakhpur and accordingly the PPO was issued from EPFO Regional Office, Gorakhpur. The PPO No UPGKP00087934 was issued on 01.11.2018 marked as Annexure No.CA- 1 to this Affidavit. 9. That it is respectfully submitted that the monthly pension of the petitioner was erroneously fixed at Rs.5,768/- per month and the erroneous monthly payment and the arrear for the months of Jan 2017 to Oct 2018 amounting to Rs.1,26,896/- was disbursed to the Petitioner. Subsequently the erroneous monthly pension was paid to the petitioner up to April, 2023 whereas, the actual pension to be paid to the petitioner was Rs.2,714/- per month. Therefore, the excess pension was paid to the petitioner for the period 01.01.2017 to 30.04.2023 i.e. for 76months and therefore the total erroneous pension disbursed to the petitioner amounted toRs. 3054 X 76 months Rs. 2,32,104/- causing a loss to the pooled Pension Fund and therefore for the recovery of the said excess payment a letter dated18.05.2023 was issued with its copy to the petitioner."

7. Learned counsel for petitioner has not able to dispute the aforesaid fact and legal issue, however, he further submits that interim order passed, whereby recovery was stayed may be made absolute.

8. I have considered the above submissions and finds that there is no error in the order, whereby pension is referred since the explanation made in aforesaid paragraphs of supplementary affidavit has substance. Now the only question is whether recovery which has been stayed by this Court on above referred facts, may be made absolute even though pension was wrongly fixed. The Court is of opinion that petitioner was not on a fault and has not made any misrepresentation.

9. In the aforesaid circumstances, in the interest of justice, interim order dated 14.07.2023 passed in Writ- A No.11094 of 2023 is made absolute and both writ petitions are accordingly, disposed of. Order Date :- 4.8.2025 P. Pandey PUSHPENDRA PANDEY High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

1. Heard Sri A.C. Tiwari(Ac), learned counsel for petitioner and Sri Jagdish Pathak, learned counsel for respondents.

2. The petitioner is retired on 31.12.2018 from the post of Senior Assistant in District Office Cooperative Federation, Gorakhpur. It is a case of petitioner that by an order dated 01.11.2018, petitioner's pension was fixed as Rs.5,768/-, however, later on an order was passed on 18.05.2023 to recover Rs.2,32,104/- on ground that pension was wrongly fixed and said amount was paid in excess.

3. The aforesaid order was challenged by petitioner in Writ Petition No. 11094 of 2023. This Court has stayed the order of recovery by interim order dated 14.07.2023.

4. The petitioner further submits that recovery was stopped but pension was also stayed, therefore, he has approached this Court by way of filing second writ petition bearing No.5702 of 2025 that his monthly pension be paid along with arrears.

5. Learned counsel for petitioner submits that now pension is being paid, however, it is on revised amount and it has been reduced to Rs. 2,714 without any reason.

6. Learned counsel for respondent has referred following paragraphs of supplementary counter affidavit filed in Writ Petition No.11094 of 2023 :- "3. That it is respectfully submitted that the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (hereinafter, the Act) was enacted with the aim of providing social security to the workers of the country, initially through Provident Fund by way of Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 1952. With the passage of time, Pension and Insurance benefits were also introduced through the corresponding schemes. As on date, three Schemes, the Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 1952 (EPF Scheme, for brevity), the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS, 1995, for brevity) and Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976 (EDLI Scheme, 1976, for brevity) have been framed under the Act which aim to extend social security benefit to the employees working across a wide array of establishments either during their sunset years or in hours of need to their beneficiaries.

4. That under the above framework, an employer of an establishment to which the Act applies has to deposit both, the employees' & employer's, share of contributions on or before the fifteenth day of the month subsequent to the wage month. The employee contributions are paid are invested in the Provident Fund administered by the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (hereinafter, 'EPFO') and the contributions of the employer are invested in the Provident Fund as well as the pooled Pension Fund administered by the EPFO. Under the Employees' Pension Scheme- 1995, the following types of pension are disbursed- i. Superannuation Pension( after attaining the age of 58 Years), ii. Reduced Pension( between the age of 50 Years to 57 Years), iii. Disabled Member Pension, iv. Family Pension, v. Dependent Parents Pension, vi. Nominee Pension.

5. That once a member becomes eligible for getting his pension the same is calculated on the basis of the Pensionable Service as well as the Pensionable Salary drawn by the member during his service to arrive at the rightful monthly pension amount. Once the same is decided a Pension Payment Order (PPO) is issued in the name of the pensioner / his or her beneficiaries. The monthly pension is paid out of the pooled Pension Fund to pensioners of EPFO.

6. That pursuant to the provisions of Act and Scheme the pension is given by the Employee Provident Fund department to the member on the basis of his contributory service period for which he and his employer had deposited the provident fund contribution to the Employee Provident Fund department.

7. That in the present case the petitioner was working on the post of Senior Assistant in District Office Cooperative Federation, Gorakhpur branch of M/s U.P. Cooperative Federation Ltd., Lucknow who superannuated on 31.12.2018 and has preferred pension from 58 years of agethe date which the petitioner attained on 31.12.2016.So U.P. Cooperative Federation, Gorakhpur was the employer of the petitioner and during the period of his service the provident fund contribution was deposited by both employer and employee to the respondent Employees Provident Fund Organization as per the provisions of Employee Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952 and The Employee' Pension Scheme, 1995.

8. That the petitioner was working in M/s UP Cooperative Federation Ltd., Lucknow bearing EPF Code UPLK00002632000 which falls under the jurisdiction of EPFO Regional Office, Lucknow. However, the petitioner decided to draw his pension at Gorakhpur and accordingly the PPO was issued from EPFO Regional Office, Gorakhpur. The PPO No UPGKP00087934 was issued on 01.11.2018 marked as Annexure No.CA- 1 to this Affidavit. 9. That it is respectfully submitted that the monthly pension of the petitioner was erroneously fixed at Rs.5,768/- per month and the erroneous monthly payment and the arrear for the months of Jan 2017 to Oct 2018 amounting to Rs.1,26,896/- was disbursed to the Petitioner. Subsequently the erroneous monthly pension was paid to the petitioner up to April, 2023 whereas, the actual pension to be paid to the petitioner was Rs.2,714/- per month. Therefore, the excess pension was paid to the petitioner for the period 01.01.2017 to 30.04.2023 i.e. for 76months and therefore the total erroneous pension disbursed to the petitioner amounted toRs. 3054 X 76 months Rs. 2,32,104/- causing a loss to the pooled Pension Fund and therefore for the recovery of the said excess payment a letter dated18.05.2023 was issued with its copy to the petitioner."

7. Learned counsel for petitioner has not able to dispute the aforesaid fact and legal issue, however, he further submits that interim order passed, whereby recovery was stayed may be made absolute.

8. I have considered the above submissions and finds that there is no error in the order, whereby pension is referred since the explanation made in aforesaid paragraphs of supplementary affidavit has substance. Now the only question is whether recovery which has been stayed by this Court on above referred facts, may be made absolute even though pension was wrongly fixed. The Court is of opinion that petitioner was not on a fault and has not made any misrepresentation.

9. In the aforesaid circumstances, in the interest of justice, interim order dated 14.07.2023 passed in Writ- A No.11094 of 2023 is made absolute and both writ petitions are accordingly, disposed of. Order Date :- 4.8.2025 P. Pandey PUSHPENDRA PANDEY High Court of Judicature at Allahabad