Pension Case

New Delhi

The Delhi High Court has set aside recovery of alleged excess pension from a widow’s family pension and directed refund of the deducted amount with 6 per cent annual interest. The court also restrained the State Bank of India (SBI) from making any further deductions.

The order came after the bank attempted to recover overpaid pension from a woman identified as Indra, whose husband died in service in 2003 while working as an Upper Division Clerk in the Election Department under the South-West Delhi SDM. After his death, she was granted family pension through a pension payment order issued by the Delhi government and disbursed via SBI’s Kapashera branch. Years later, her pension was reduced, and she was told that excess payment of about Rs 2.51 lakh had occurred due to a wrong enhancement date in records.

The bank later revised the amount to Rs 3.60 lakh and began monthly deductions without prior notice. Indra challenged the recovery, saying she had not provided any wrong information or misused the system. Justice Sanjeev Narula held that the excess payment resulted from errors in pension processing and not any fraud or concealment by the petitioner.

The court noted that she had no role in system calculations and could not detect internal mistakes. Referring to Supreme Court rulings, the court said pensioners are protected from harsh recovery that causes undue hardship. It also criticised SBI for starting recovery without informing her details or giving a fair chance to respond. The court rejected SBI’s reliance on a standard undertaking signed in 2004, stating it cannot override equity. It ordered refund of all deducted amounts within eight weeks along with interest from each deduction date until payment is made.