Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The High Court of Bombay at Goa took up writ petitions filed by two retired Police Sub Inspectors (PSIs) of the Goa Police, challenging proposed recovery proceedings, and observed that initiating such action against pensioners amounts to harassment.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Suman Shyam and Justice Amit Jamsandekar was hearing a petition filed by Shivaji Narayan Birje, a former PSI who retired from service on December 31, 2024. The court noted that despite his retirement, the authorities had initiated steps to recover alleged excess payments.
Birje contended that the recovery pertained to so-called excess drawals and the withdrawal of pay fixation benefits with retrospective effect. He maintained that any overpayment occurred due to errors on the part of the department and not because of any misrepresentation or wrongdoing on his part.
Relying on the Supreme Court’s ruling in State of Punjab vs Rafiq Masih, the petitioner argued that recovery of excess payments is prohibited where such payments result solely from administrative mistakes. He further submitted that the apex court had categorically barred recovery from retired government employees in such circumstances.
The High Court observed that the legal position on the issue is well established and that recovery of excess payments from retired government servants is impermissible. The Bench remarked that dragging a retired employee into recovery proceedings after superannuation effectively amounts to harassment.
The court granted the petitioner liberty to seek interim protection and also allowed him to amend his writ petition.
A connected matter involving a similar challenge by another retired PSI, Ramchandra Pundalik Sawant, was also taken up briefly. In that case as well, the Bench permitted amendments to the petition.
The Additional Government Advocate, representing the State and the Goa Police, sought time to file a response in both matters. The court granted four weeks for filing the reply.
