Cases of overpayment keep coming to light in various ministries and departments of the Central Government. In some cases notice is given soon, while in many cases the files keep rotating from one table to another for a long time. Many such cases have come to light in which an employee retires, but his overpayment case is not resolved. Let us know about it in detail.
The ‘Department of Expenditure’ of the Finance Ministry has issued a relief order for government employees. The office memorandum issued on April 1 states that if any amount has been deposited in an employee’s account under overpayment, it will not be recovered. In this case, the limit of overpayment amount has been kept at Rs 2 lakh. If money has been transferred to a government servant’s account by mistake, he will not be troubled.
If there has been overpayment, it has been made mandatory to issue an order for its recovery within a month. The Finance Ministry has cited Rule 15 of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules (DFPR), 2024 in this matter. It states that government employees may be exempted from recovery of overpayments made by a ministry or department. However, for this the concerned department will have to follow certain conditions.
Overpayment cases go on for a long time
Cases of overpayment keep coming to light in various ministries and departments of the Central Government. In some cases notice is given soon, while in many cases the files keep rotating from one table to another for a long time. Many such cases have come to light in which an employee retires, but his overpayment case is not resolved. After retirement, recovery is demanded from him. In May 2022, the Supreme Court had said in a judgment that additional payment made to an employee cannot be recovered after his retirement on the ground that he was given increment due to some mistake.
What does the Supreme Court order say?
A bench of Justice S A Nazeer and Justice Vikram Nath had said, stay on recovery of additional payment is allowed by the courts. This is not because of any right of the employees, but under judicial discretion to save the employees from the hardship caused to them. If the additional amount has not been paid due to any misrepresentation or fraud by the employee, if the excess payment was made by the employer by applying an incorrect principle of calculation of pay and allowances or on the basis of any particular interpretation of the rule which subsequently If found incorrect, the overpayment made is not recoverable. The Supreme Court had said that a government servant, especially one in the lower ranks of the service, spends whatever amount he receives for the maintenance of his family. The Supreme Court held that where the employee knows that the payment received by him exceeds the amount due or has been wrongly paid or where the wrongful payment is soon discovered, the court will not give him relief against recovery.
As per the Office Memorandum of the Finance Ministry, the Financial Advisor ‘FA’ will send the file of overpayment to the Secretary of the concerned Ministry/Department. In that the FA will recommend that the extra payment be waived. Such cases will be dealt with under Rule 15 of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules (DFPR), 2024. The Departmental Administrator and any other subordinate authority in the Government of India to whom powers may be entrusted by or under a special order of the President may waive recovery of the amount overpaid.
What are the conditions?
In this case the department will have to follow certain conditions. The date of issue of order for recovery of overpayment will be an important input for taking decision regarding rebate. Such order for recovery of overpayment should be issued within one month from the date of detection of overpayment. According to Rule 15 of DFPR 2024, a department of the Government of India can waive recovery of overpayment up to Rs 2 lakh.
Ministries/Departments should examine all proposals as per the provisions prescribed in Rule 15 of DFPR. They should verify that in cases of exemption, there is no serious negligence on the part of any Government servant which may require disciplinary action by a higher authority.
Financial advisors recommend discount cases
If any Ministry/Department believes that the loss caused by overpayment is due to any defect in the existing rules or procedures, it will be brought to the notice of the Department/Ministry with the authority to amend such rules or procedures. Guidelines in this regard have also been issued by DOPT.
The orders issued on 02.03.2016 by the Administrative Ministry/Department will be strictly followed while considering exemption of additional payments made to Government servants. Each case of exemption should be recommended by a financial advisor. It must be approved by the Administrative Secretary.
In cases where waiver of recovery arises from a court direction, the Ministries/Departments should satisfy themselves that there are reasonable justifications for not challenging such court direction. If any recovery, which has subsequently been waived, is due to misinterpretation of rules or procedures, the Ministry/Department will review all the cases held similarly to examine the need for waiver of recovery in future cases.
can do. In case of misinterpretation of rules or procedures, the Ministry/Department will take appropriate measures to ensure that such deficiencies are rectified. If any inquiry has been conducted to fix responsibility, the final report as well as the action taken by the Ministry may be placed on record.
If misinterpretation of rules or procedures (for example, incorrect pay fixation) remains undetected for a long time, the Ministry/Department may place on record appropriate justification as to why such cases were not noticed during regular reviews. In this matter, internal audit, etc. files should be looked into. Cases involving exemption from recovery of more than Rs 2 lakh should be referred to DoPT.
Such cases may be sent along with the filled checklist (attached to this Office Memorandum) along with a detailed note including the information given at Para-3. DoPT says that even if any recovery order has been given by the court, study it thoroughly. See that the employee keeps his word. There is no fault of his and the court order is worth challenging, so challenge it. Meaning, no harm should be caused to the government employee.
