Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:84382 Court No. - 5 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 7021 of 2025 Petitioner :- Hari Krishna Pratap Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Shamasul Eslam Counsel for Respondent :- Suresh Singh Hon'ble Ajay Bhanot,J. Heard Shri Shamasul Eslam, learned counsel for the petitioner, Shir Aditya Bhushan Singhal, learned counsel for the respondent nos. 2 and 3 and learned Standing Counsel for the State. By the impugned order dated 07.02.2023 the amount of Rs. 67,672/- has been recovered from the gratuity of the petitioner on the footing that excess salary has been paid to the petitioner. The petitioner superannuated from service on 31.08.2017. The petitioner was a Class IV employee. The impugned order records that the pay of the petitioner was incorrectly fixed which lead to excess payment of salary. Admittedly, there was no fraud or misrepresentation on part of the petitioner which led to the incorrect fixation of salary. The wrong fixation of salary was made on account of an error on part of the respondents. The impugned order was passed in the teeth of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in State of Punjab vs. Rafiq Masih reported at 2015 (4) SCC 334. The impugned order is liable to be set aside and is set aside. The entire amounts recovered from the petitioner in pursuance of the impugned order shall be reimbursed to him within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. However, it is clarified that all the other benefits shall be paid to the petitioner on the basis of the correct salary of the petitioner which was determined after rectifying the error in the earlier salary fixation. The writ petition is allowed. Order Date :- 20.5.2025 Vandit Digitally signed by :- VANDIT AGRAWAL High Court of Judicature at Allahabad