State Government

Govt. orders recovery of excess payments to staff

Dennis S. Jesudasan

CHENNAI, SEPTEMBER 05, 2018 00:00 IST

UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 05, 2018 03:47 IST

Administrative heads told to adhere to guidelines of SC

The State government has issued an order directing the Administrative Departments of Secretariat, Heads of Department and Head of Offices to deal with the issue of wrongful/excess payments made to government servants/pensioners/family pensioners in line with a recent Supreme Court judgment. It has also fixed the ratio of responsibility in case of overpayment/irregular payment made by officers in various offices concerned, as the case may be.

The ratio of responsibility would be on Dealing Assistant Section Officer, Section Officer, Dealing Assistant, Section Superintendent, Dealing Accountant, Superintendent, Assistant Pay and Accounts Officer, Dealing Accountant, Superintendent, Additional Treasury Officer. The order said Administrative Heads and Heads of Departments must adhere to the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the State of Punjab and others etc vs Rafiq Masih.

Where excess payments has been made on account of wrong pay/pension/family pension fixation, grant of scale without due approvals, promotions without following the procedure, or in excess of entitlements etc, immediate corrective action must be taken.

“A show cause notice may be issued to the employee/pensioner/family pensioner concerned informing him/her of the decision to rectify the order which has resulted in the overpayment, and intention to recover such excess payments,” it stated and laid down a procedure to be followed for recovery of the amount.

If payment has been made in excess due to fraud, misrepresentation, collusion, favouritism, negligence or, carelessness, among other factors, the role of those responsible for overpayments and the employees/ pensioners/family pensioners who benefited from such actions should be identified, and departmental/criminal action must be considered. “No waiver of recovery may be allowed without the approval of Finance Department,” Finance Secretary K. Shanmugam stated in the order.

The recovery would be made only when responsibility of overpayments is fixed by the Head of Office on the concerned official.