KISHORE KUMAR KHATWAD Vs. STATE OF M.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the present writ petition being aggrieved by the orders dated 06/10/2018 (Annexure-P/1) and 07/05/2021 (Annexure-P/2) whereby respondent No. 3 has initiated the recovery of the amount paid in excess.

(2.) The petitioner being a non-ministerial employee was given the benefit of increment of Rs. 70/-. Now, the apex Court has upheld that the amount was wrongly paid to the non-ministerial staff. After the aforesaid judgment passed by the Apex Court, the State Government has initiated the recovery against all the employees who have been given the said benefit. At the outset, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is not challenging the recovery of the principal amount, but he aggrieved by the recovery of interest as there was no fault on the part in his part to get the increment of Rs. 70/-.A similar issue came up for consideration before this Court in several writ petitions and all have been decided by the common order dated 17/08/2020, passed in W.P. No. 8491/2020:-

(3.) That the petitioner being the ministerial staff of the police department was not entitled to get the said ad-hoc increment of Rs. 70/- but the same was given to him along with others by the department itself, hence recovery of the interest is not justified. Because of the above, this petition is allowed and the order dated 17/08/2020, passed in W.P. No. 8491/2020 shall apply to this petition mutatis mutandis. The recovery of the principal amount is upheld but the recovery of the interest part is quashed, any amount already recovered as interest be return to the petitioner.