Col Durga Lal Meena (Retd) (Army) vs UOI & Others on 5 May 2026

**ORDER

05.05.2026**

1. Under Section 14 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act 2007, the Applicant has filed this OA praying for directing the Respondents to waive off the recoveries of arrears to the tune of Rs 50,288 with interest of Rs 64,607/-, totaling Rs 114,895/. He has also prayed for award of suitable costs of the application to the applicant.

2. Brief facts of the case as enunciated by the applicant are that the applicant was commissioned in the Army on 13/12/1980 and retired from service on superannuation on 28/2/2009. He had rendered 35 years, eight months and two days of service. He has been in receipt of service pension regularly without any deductions or objections etc nor any overpayment of rank pay was ever intimated to him at any time. The Applicant was shocked on receipt of PCDA (O) letter dated 15/6/2020 intimating that on review of his account, it has come to notice that an over payment of Rs 1,01,135/- has been made to the applicant on account of arrears of rank pay due to technical error. The applicant has been directed to remit the said amount through MRO/DD in favour of PCDA (O) to liquidate the over payment, failing which, the amount will be intimated to PCDA (P) for recovery from his pensionary benefits. The applicant approached PCDA (O) vide his letter dated 30/8/2020, against the impugned order, however, vide their letter dated 07/10/2020 PCDA (O) turned down the plea of the applicant stating that recovery barring few exceptional case of hardship are to be reviewed. Having been aggrieved, the applicant has filed the OA, praying for relief.

3. The Respondents have filed a Reply Statement. While not disputing the basic facts, they have submitted that upon his superannuation from the Army, the applicant was re-employed wef 30/4/2009 and released from re-employment on 25/3/2011. During March 2014 to Feb 2015, the applicant was paid arrears of Rs 2,99,652/- on account of re-fixation of pay, considering the rank pay for the 4^th and 5^th CPC for the period 01/1/1986 to 31/12/2005, in accordance with Govt of India, Ministry of Defence letter dated 27/12/2012. Payment towards the Rank Pay arrears were made to all the affected officers only after obtaining an undertaking in the light of the provisions contained at Para 12 of the Govt of India, Ministry of Defence sanctioning Order dated 27/12/2012, which stipulated, as follows :- *"Para 12. All affected officers/pensioners have to give an undertaking at the time of disbursement of arrears as per Appendix 'A' to the effect that any excess payment that may be found to have been made as a result of incorrect re-fixation of pay/pension will be refunded by him/her to the Govt either by adjustment against future payments or otherwise".*

Thereafter, on subsequent review/audit of payments made to the affected officers, it was noticed that the applicant was over paid an amount of Rs 1,14,898/-, which was duly communicated to the applicant as also to all such affected officers. Most of the officers have already refunded the amount over paid to them by means of MRO. Moreover, as regards the contention of the applicant that against total over payment of Rs 114,898/-, the actual overpayment was Rs 50,228/- and Rs 64,607/- has been levied as interest thereon, the Respondents have stated that the total over payment made to the applicant was to the tune of Rs 1,14,898/- which included interest element on the arrears of over paid amount towards Rank Pay @6% wef 01/1/2006 as directed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in its judgment dated 04/9/2012 and it is not that any interest has been levied on the overpayment made to the applicant.

4. We have heard the counsels for the parties and perused the material on record.

5. It is a fact that the applicant was paid an overpayment towards revision of his Pay to the tune of Rs 1,14,898/-, which included interest on the arrears. It is also prudent to observe that the applicant was paid arrears after obtaining an undertaking from him to the effect that any excess payment that may be found to have been made as a result of incorrect re-fixation of pay shall be refunded to the Government. During the course of hearing, counsel for the applicant reiterated that the Respondents have recovered an amount of Rs 64,000/- for an overpayment of Rs 50,288/-, which is arbitrary and illegal and needs to be refunded to the applicant. However, the same does not seem to be correct as no additional interest was levied on the over payment made to the officer as has been stated by the Respondents. Hence, the prayer of the applicant is liable to be rejected.

6. However, in view of the foregoing and to meet ends of justice, we deem it appropriate to direct the Applicant to submit a fresh Representation to the Respondents with regard to the contentious issue of recovery of Rs 64,607/- as interest on the overpayment made to him within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this Order, if so desired. We expect the Respondents to consider the issue in a holistic manner within a period of four months from the date of receipt of such a Representation from the Applicant and take a decision in this matter. The outcome of the same shall be intimated to the applicant.

7. The OA stands disposed off accordingly. No order on costs.

8. Pending application, if any, also stands disposed off.

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(SANJIV MITTAL) MEMBER (A)

(GOVERDHAN BARDHAR) MEMBER (J)

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