KNOWLEDGE SPECTRUM - DISCIPLINE -7 penalty of Recovery, maximum recovery, refund the amount excessively recovered

  

28.    How the penalty of Recovery can be imposed if a GS is responsible for the Govt loss?

·   The penalty of Recovery can be imposed only when the GS is responsible for a particular act or acts of negligence or breach of order that caused the loss.

·        The lapses on the part of the GS must have a link with the loss sustained by the Department, say, for example, the lapses led to the commission of a fraud or misappropriation by another GS.

·       The charge-sheet should be elaborate and indicate clearly the nature of the lapses, the modus operandi of the fraud, and how the lapses on the part of the GS resulted in the fraud.

·        A separate episode was made by us on contributory negligence.

 

29.    As per Volume III maximum of 36 months basic pay can be recovered under the disciplinary rules? Whether it holds good?

·    The Department of Posts has laid down a monetary limit for the penalty of Recovery from pay. The recovery should not exceed one third of the basic pay         (excluding Dearness Pay, allowances, etc).

·        It should not be spread over a period of more than 3 years, that is 36 months.

·        In other words, the recovery should not exceed one year’s basic pay.

·        There is amendment to this order yet but the DOPT has clarified differently

·        The DOPT ( Department of Personnel)  in its order No. 11012/1/2000-ESTT(A) dtd 06.09.2000. Now, the position is changed and as per this order, there is no monetary limit for recovery from pay.

·        The entire loss can be recovered from the pay of the GS.

·        There is no limit for the period of recovery either.

 

30. Is there any scope to refund the amount excessively recovered under recovery to the officials at a later date?

·        The amount ordered to be recovered from the pay of a GS can be reduced by the DA at any later stage if it is found that the amount is more than the loss sustained by the Department.

·        The excess amount recovered, if any, will be refunded to the GS.

·        If the loss is found to be nil, the entire amount recovered will have to be refunded to the GS.

·        But the case will be first reviewed by the competent authority (not the DA) for imposing another penalty on the GS.

·        The penalty imposed must be lower than that of Recovery, that is, either Censure or Withholding of Promotion.