R.R.PRASAD, J. - (1.) Through this writ application the petitioner has sought to quash the order under which excess amount paid to the petitioner on the assumption of his passing of Hindi Noting and Drafting Examination though at the relevant point of time he had not passed the said examination, has been ordered to be recovered.
(2.) THE case of the petitioner is that the petitioner, who is presently posted as Assistant Accountant at Transmission Circle, Ranchi, was appointed on 1.1.1974 in the establishment of the then Bihar State Electricity Board and in due course of time, he was given selection grade with effect from 1.8.1988 and then subsequently senior selection grade with effect from 18.7.1993 and before being given senior selection grade, the petitioner had passed Hindi Noting and Drafting Examination on 5.9.1992 but all on a sudden, the committee refixed the pay scale of the petitioner reducing the salary on the premise that increment on account of passing of Hindi Noting and Drafting Examination had wrongly been given to the petitioner as the petitioner had not passed the said examination and consequently the order was passed for recovery of the excess amount drawn from 16.7.1979 to 17.5.1992. Recommendation made by the committee for recovery of the amount subsequently got approval of the competent authority. Learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that any order relating to recovery of the amount is unreasonable and unjustified as the increment of pay scale had been fixed by the authority on its own and the petitioner had never made any misrepresentation regarding passing of Hindi Noting and Drafting Examination and in similar situation, this Court in a case of Nand Kishore Pandey v. Jharkhand State Electricity Board and Ors. 2006 (4) JLJR 558 has been pleased to hold that the action on the part of the Board to recover increment paid to the person is totally unfair.
(3.) AS against this, learned Counsel appearing for the Board submitted that without clearing said Hindi Noting and Drafting Examination, benefit of that was given to the petitioner but that was given wrongly and when it was detected, the order was passed for recovery of the said amount which, in the facts and circumstances, cannot be said to be illegal.;