HYDERABAD: Citing established Supreme Court rulings on the matter, the Hyderabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has rejected the pleas filed by a group of retired forest officials and senior bureaucrats seeking a directive to the Union government to halt the recovery of pension commutation amounts once the total sum, along with interest, has been fully recovered.
The CAT bench, comprising Judicial Member Lata Baswaraj Patne and Administrative Member Shalini Misra dismissed the pleas filed by the group comprising Chief Conservators of Forests, Principal Chief Conservators and senior bureaucrats.
Under existing rules, Union government employees can commute up to 40% of their pension as a lump sum at retirement. This amount is then recovered from their monthly pensions over 15 years. The petitioners argued that in many cases, the full amount, including interest, is recovered within 12 years, yet deductions continue until the 15-year period is completed.
The petitioners cited precedents from High Courts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala and Allahabad, granting interim reliefs to retirees in similar cases. They cited the instance of the Telangana High Court — in a batch of petitions filed by retired tahsildar Bobbadi Appa Rao and others — directing the state government to halt recovery once the total amount had been reimbursed.
The CAT bench, however, pointed to the Supreme Court’s position on pension commutation. The bench pointed out that the 15-year recovery period is based on rules upheld by the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution.
It said that pension commutation was a voluntary and optional benefit that retirees opt for with full awareness of the rules.