Through this Constitutional Petition under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, the petitioner seeks a direction to the respondents not to recover the amount of Rs.3,69,346/- paid to the petitioner on account of his retirement as a consequence of reinstatement in service and also not to recover any interest over and above this amount.
2. Brief fats giving rise to this writ petition are that the petitioner was compulsorily retired from the government service w.e.f.22.09.2010 under the proceeding taken under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline & Accountability Act, 2006 and the appeal filed before the Punjab Service Tribunal, the petitioner was reinstated in service by converting compulsory retirement into stoppage of one increment for two years provided he will pay back all pensionary benefits, gratuity etc in easy installments within two years received already according to law. The intervening period during which he remained out of service will be treated as leave without pay. Writ Petition No.7761 of 2012 filed for the implementation of the said judgment and as per order, the petitioner joined duty on 22.05.2012 and returned the original service book as well as the original pension book to the respondents. As he received Commutation to the tune of Rs.2,91,328/-, monthly pension up to 30.04.2012 at Rs.78,018/- which he had returned to the respondents in easy installments. But an amount of Rs.97,795/- as interest is being illegally recovered, hence this writ petition.
3. In paragraph-9 of the report and parawise comments submitted by respondent No.1, it was stated that on the reinstatement of the petitioner he has to pay interest on the amount which he retained but returned as provided in the instruction of Finance Department dated 24.03.1987 and 22.03.2007.
4. Arguments heard. Record perused.
5. The Punjab Service Tribunal vide judgment dated 16.01.2012 accepted the appeal partially and the order of compulsory retirement from service dated 22.09.2010 was modified and converted into stoppage of one increment for two years which the petitioner was re-instated in service from the date of compulsory retirement provided he paid back all pensionary benefits, gratuity etc in easy installments within two years; and the intervening period was to be treated as leave without pay. It is also not denied by the respondents that he has returned the entire amount in easy installments which he received from the respondents.
6. However, as to the recovery of interest reference is made by respondent No.1 to the officer circular dated 24.03.1987 as well as in circular dated 22.03.2007 wherein it has been provided that reinstatement of government servant retired under section 12(ii) of the Punjab Civil Servants Act, 1974 will be conditional to return of pension, gratuity and commuted value of pension drawn by him which would be treated as advance to him and would be recoverable alongwith interest, at the rate applicable at the time of reinstatement.
7. Wisdom behind such circular is that on account of inflation of money government should not sustain any loss for any payment made which was subsequently found to have made un- necessarily. Such event may arise either when the appeal against compulsory retirement is allowed by the departmental authority or by the Punjab Service Tribunal. In the latter, order permitting reinstatement will have to be followed while ascertaining as to whether any interest is specifically mentioned as recoverable from such employee. A perusal of the judgment passed by the Punjab Service Tribunal does not reveal any such recovery of interest. Therefore, in my humble view, excludes its application to the petitioner for the purposes of recovery of interest.
8. Such a situation may also arise when the government servant compulsory retired before its superannuation if was subsequently reinstated in service, he would not be able to claim interest on the delayed payment of his post retirement benefit for the simple reason that said amount is to be paid at the time when it is found payable. In the present case, the judgment of the Punjab Service Tribunal as mentioned therein, as obviously has to be operated prospectively and will be applied to the petitioner on the date when it was announced. Besides, such payment of interest was not found direct liability of the petitioner at the time when he was paid the benefit immediately after retirement therefore, cannot be recovered from the petitioner. Lastly, record does not reveal that at the time of receiving the amount he committed that he would pay it back at the event of his reinstatement in service with interest.
9. For the foregoing reasons, this petition is allowed as a result of which respondents are restrained from recovering the amount of interest from the petitioner as he has admittedly paid back the entire received amount in easy installments. revisions by the competent authorities. Therefore, it is advisable to consult the official sources or legal professionals for the most up-to-date and accurate information.