M.P. MEDICAL OFFICERS ASSOCIATION versus THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ORS.

Citation: [2022] 7 S.C.R. 67 · Decided: 26-08-2022 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: M.R. SHAH · Disposal: Case Partly allowed

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Judgment (excerpt)

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M.P. MEDICAL OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
v.
THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ORS.
(Civil Appeal No. 5527 of 2022)
AUGUST 26, 2022
[M. R. SHAH AND B. V. NAGARATHNA, JJ.]
Service Law – Recovery of excess amount paid – Employees-
members of the appellant association were wrongly granted certain
benefits under a circular till it was subsequently withdrawn, having
been issued without authority and also without approval of Finance
Department – State Govt. ordered recovery of the excess amount
paid with interest – Single Judge quashed the communication
withdrawing the circular and the orders of recovery of excess amount
– Order set aside by Division Bench – Held: Division Bench justified
in setting aside the order passed by Single Judge quashing the
communication withdrawing the circular, considering the grounds
on which the circular was withdrawn – Impugned order upholding
the communication withdrawing the circular not interfered with –
However, Division Bench erred in quashing the order passed by
Single Judge setting aside the recovery of excess amount paid – It
was the Department/State that issued the circular and paid the
benefits thereunder – There was neither any misrepresentation by
the concerned employees nor can the mistake be attributed to them
– Mistake, if any, can be said to be that of the Department/State
that issued the circular – On facts, State not justified in ordering
recovery of the excess amount paid, also as some of the employees
have retired and the recovery shall be from their pension/pensionary
benefits – Order passed by Division Bench upholding the recovery
of the excess amount paid, set aside – No recovery of the excess
amount paid – However, for all other purposes including pay fixation
and pension etc., the same shall be worked out as per order dtd
26.08.08 – M.P. Public Health and Family Welfare (Gazetted) Service
Recruitment Rules, 2007 – M.P. Public Health and Family Welfare
(Gazetted) Service Recruitment Rules, 1988.
State of Punjab and others v. Rafiq Masih, (2015) 4
SCC 334 : [2014] 13 SCR 1343 – held inapplicable.
[2022] 7 S.C.R. 67
67
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 7 S.C.R.
Case Law Reference
[2014] 13 SCR 1343             held inapplicable
Para 5
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 5527
of 2022.
From the Judgment and Orders dated 11.10.2018 of the High Court
of Madhya Pradesh Principal Bench at Jabalpur in W.A. No.1073 of
2018.
With
Civil Appeal Nos. 5528, 5529 and 5530 of 2022.
P. S. Patwalia, Sr. Adv., Sanjay Sarin, Rohin Oza, Ms. Meghna
Mittal, Ms. Gagan Deep Kaur, Aditya Sarin, Pushkar Karni Sinha, Dinkar
Kalra, Prashant Shukla, Ms. Anushree Shukla, Ashu Bhindwar, Ankit
Tiwari, Ms. Shubhi Bharadwaj, Abhinav Ramkrishna, Divyesh Pratap
Singh, Advs. for the Appellant.
Saurabh Mishra, AAG, Ms. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Ankit Mishra,
Rahul Kaushik, Pashupathi Nath Razdan, Advs. for the Respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
M. R. SHAH, J.
1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment
and order passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur in
Writ Appeal No. 1073 of 2018 by which the High Court has allowed the
said writ appeal preferred by the State of Madhya Pradesh and others
and has quashed and set aside the judgment and order passed by the
learned Single Judge passed in Writ Petition No. 6236 of 2014, the original
writ petitioners – M.P. Medical Officers Association and other individual
members of the Association have filed the present appeals.
2. The members of the appellant Association and other appellants
were working as Specialists and Dental Specialists respectively under
the M.P. Public Health and Family Welfare (Gazetted) Service
Recruitment Rules, 1988. The said Rules were repealed by the M.P.
Public Health and Family Welfare (Gazetted) Service Recruitment Rules,
2007 published in the Gazette on 27.03.2008. The State issued an order
on 26.08.2008 to grant higher pay-scale on completion of six years to the
Medical Officers, Dental Surgeons and officers working in the Specialist
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cadre in a four tier pay-scales. Later, the circular dated 23.05.2009 was
issued to the effect that the period from the date of appointment shall
be counted as notional appointment though the benefit of the scheme
shall be granted from the date of issuance of the order of the State
Government dated 26.08.2008. In the circular dated 23.05.2009, it was
also provided that the fourth tier pay-scale will be payable

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