The Allahabad High Court has recently stayed the recovery of excess payment made to sugarcane inspectors working in the sugarcane department due to wrong pay fixation and sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government.
A single-judge bench of Justice Saral Srivastava passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Mahipal Singh and 4 others. It was contended by counsel for the petitioners that the order dated April 5, 2021 for recovery of excess payment made to the petitioners has been passed without giving due notice and opportunity of hearing the petitioners.
The Court has granted the respondents four-weeks’ time to file counter-affidavit and four weeks thereafter has been allowed to the petitioners for filing their rejoinder affidavit.
“Until further orders of the Court, no recovery pursuant to the order dated April 5, 2021 shall be effected against the petitioners,” the court ordered.
In this case, the petitioners were appointed to the post of Sugarcane Development Inspector in the static project. Later they were accommodated in the Sugarcane Development Department. They were being given the revised pay scale from April 2001.
On May 25, 2017, the Sugarcane Commissioner approved the second promoted pay scale to the petitioners on completion of 24 years of service. But on April 5, 2021, the Cane Commissioner cancelled his own order and now the excess paid salary is being recovered.
It was stated by the petitioners that there is no role of the petitioners in fixation of salary. This is done by the department itself. Therefore, it is wrong to recover from the petitioners.