If a worker employed in a fixed payee gets caught in anti-corruption, he can not be suspended directly

5th Pay Commission Report - Excess payment made due

to wrong/irregular pay fixation - Recovery of - Permissibility -

Whether over-payment of amount due to wrong fixation of 5th

and 6th pay scale of teachers/principals based on the 5th Pay

Commission Report could be recovered fr om the appellants

who were serving as teachers or whether the appellants could

retain the amount received on basis of irregular/wrong pay

fixation in absence of any misrepresentation or fraud on their

part - Held: Any amount paid/received without authority of law

can always be recovered barring few exceptions of extreme

hardships but not as a matter of right, in such situations law

implies an obligation on the payee to repay the money,

otherwise it would amount to unjust enrichment - Appellants

did not fall in any of the exceptional categories, over and

above, there was a stipulation in the fixation order that in the

condition of irregular/wrong pay fixation, the institution in which

the appellants were working would be responsible for recovery

of the amount received in excess from the salary/pension -

Excess payment made accordingly ordered to be recovered

from appellant's salary in twelve equal monthly installments.

The appellants-teachers/principals filed writ petition

before the High Court seeking a writ of certiorari to quash

an inter-departmental communication followed by a letter

issued by the District Education Officer to the Manager/

Principal of few Sanskrit Colleges in Hardwar where

excess payments had been made due to wrong fixatio