MADURAI: Observing that recovering excess family pension from the widow of a government employee nearly five years after his death would entail harsh consequences, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court quashed the recovery order that required a widow to repay Rs 2.94 lakh that was paid to her from 2017 to 2022.
Hearing the petition of A Pavunammal of Pudukkottai, Justice Shamim Ahmed pointed out that the Supreme Court had summarised a few situations under which recovery from government servants is legally impermissible, one of which included recovery from a retired employee.
He noted that in Pavunammal’s case, her husband Aandappan had joined service as village headman in 1957 and had worked till 1980. He had been drawing pension till his death in November 2017. From December 2018, Pavunammal started receiving Rs 6,750 as monthly pension till July 2022, after which she received a communication that she has been paid an excess family pension of Rs 2.94 lakh, which is to be recovered from her in monthly instalments. She has not been paid a family pension after that.
The judge observed that though the authorities claimed they received Pavunammal’s consent, she has not been given adequate time or show cause notice. Moreover, the situations summarised by the Supreme Court squarely apply to her, as the recovery order has been passed after her husband’s retirement and death.
The judge observed that when there is no fraud or misrepresentation on the part of the family pensioner, recovery of excess payments from the petitioner at this stage would entail harsh consequences. He directed the authorities to pay arrears of family pension from August 2022 in six weeks.