Rajbir Singh and Others vs The State of Haryana and Others

K. Kannan, J.—The petitioners have a grievance against the recoveries made on a ground that petitioners were given the scales which were applicable to the post of regular Clerks and who were required to pass a type test. Rule 13 (1) of the Haryana Treasury Establishment Subordinate Group ''C Service Rules, 1980 provides the type test to be passed within one year from the date of appointment and such of those persons who passed it subsequently beyond a period of one year, the benefit will accrue retrospectively from the date when they were entitled but the arrears will not be given. It is another way of saying that only notional increase would be provided and they will obtain the relevant scale only from the day when they have passed type test. Admittedly, the petitioners have been given the benefit of their regular scale although they had not passed the test at the time when the scales were released to them. The petitioners who have passed the type test respectively on 22.12.1998, 11.12.1996 and 12.12.2002, any payment made earlier from 1.4.1993 cannot be taken to be payment which they were entitled to. This case was directed to be posted after the decision of this Court in Budh Ram and others Vs. State of Haryana and others in CWP No. 2799 of 2008. A full bench of this Court had held that any payment released which a party was not entitled to cannot be directed to be refunded, unless the payment had been made by fraud or misrepresentation made by an employee. The law laid down by the Full Bench has been doubted by the Supreme Court in the judgment in Chandi Prasad Uniyal and Others Vs. State of Uttarakhand and Others, . The Supreme Court has observed that the issue of fraud and misrepresentation is totally irrelevant when a question is whether the payment was in accordance with law or not. I find that the payment made to them was definitely not in accordance with the rules.

The petitioner has a further grievance that some other persons who were also not entitled but they were given the benefit in view of the fact that they had secured the scales as per the judgment of the High Court in Budh Ram''s case (supra). The counsel refers me to Annexure P-5 which is a proceeding issued by the Director Finance & Accounts to the Treasury Officer dated 5.12.2003 directing that such of those employees who were not given the benefit of regular scale shall be paid to them. I cannot vouch for any benefit as having been obtained for other persons. It shall be open to State to make appropriate recoveries if any payments have been made against the rules as referred to above. The petitioner cannot find a parity for themselves if there has been a breach of rule, for, there exists no Article 14 to actions which are contrary to specific rules. The writ petition is dismissed with the above observations.