HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW WRIT - A No. - 9503 of 2025 Court No. - 8 HON'BLE MANISH MATHUR, J. 1. Heard learned counsel for petitioner and learned State Counsel for opposite parties. 2. Petition has been filed challenging order dated 23.07.2025 effecting recovery from salary of petitioner. Further amount for refund of deducted salary of petitioner alongwith interest has also been sought. 3. It has been submitted that a show cause notice had been issued to petitioner with the allegation that petitioner was instrumental in incorrect fixation and payment of pay scale to one Rakesh Kumar due to which an amount of Rs.1,51,162/- was paid excessively to the said person. 4. It is submitted that upon receipt of the show cause notice, petitioner by means of letter dated 21.05.2025 had sought for the documents pertaining to payment of Mr. Rakesh Kumar but the same has not been made available to petitioner due to which he could not submit an effective reply. It is submitted that in case petitioner is granted access to the aforesaid documents, he may be able to submit a reply. It is submitted that due to non-submission of reply by petitioner, the impugned order has been passed on an ex parte basis imposing the aforesaid recovery. 5. Learned State Counsel has refuted submissions advanced by learned counsel for petitioner with the submission that impugned order is a well considered order and had to be passed in view of the fact that petitioner Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Shubham Gupta, Amul Mani Tripathi Counsel for Respondent(s) : C.S.C. Sanjay Kumar Srivastava .....Petitioner(s) State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Prison Jail Administration And Reforms Lko. And 3 Others .....Respondent(s) refused to reply to the show cause notice and was merely delaying the proceedings. 6. Upon consideration of submission advanced by learned counsel for parties and perusal of material on record, it is evident that allegation levelled against petitioner was of incorrect fixation of pay scale of one Rakesh Kumar due to which allegedly excessive payment of salary was made to him. It is also evident on the record that upon receipt of show cause notice, petitioner submitted a reply dated 21.05.2025 which has been received on the same date in the office of official concerned and has sought the original paper book of the said Rakesh Kumar. 7. A perusal of impugned order, however, reveals that the opposite parties have not indicated any reason for not providing the documents sought for by petitioner. 8. In the considered opinion of this Court, since allegations pertained to excessive payment being made to the said person namely Rakesh Kumar, petitioner was well within his rights to demand the aforesaid documents as indicated in the letter dated 21.05.2025. 9. In view of aforesaid facts and circumstances, the impugned order dated 23.07.2025 is hereby quashed by issuance of a writ in the certiorari. A further direction is issued to the concerned authority to provide the documents sought for by petitioner in letter dated 21.05.2025 within a period of two weeks from the date a certified copy of this order is served upon the said authority. In case it is not possible to provide the aforesaid documents, petitioner shall be given an opportunity to examine the documents indicated in the letter dated 21.05.2025 within the same time period, although the official concerned shall indicate a reason as to why the said documents cannot be provided to petitioner. 10. Upon expiry of the aforesaid period, petitioner shall be granted a time period of 15 days to file his response to the show cause notice. The opposite parties thereafter shall be at liberty to pass fresh orders considering the reply submitted by petitioner. 11. In view of the fact that the impugned order has been quashed, the WRIA No. 9503 of 2025 2 opposite parties shall refund the amount already deducted from petitioner within a period of four weeks from the date a certified copy of the order is produced before the concerned authority. 12. With aforesaid directions, petition stands allowed at the admission stage itself. Parties to bear their own cost. August 25, 2025 Satish WRIA No. 9503 of 2025 3 (Manish Mathur,J.) Digitally signed by :- SATISH KUMAR BHARATI High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench Digitally signed by :- SATISH KUMAR BHARATI High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench