09-10-2026 Item No.23 Subrata Bhattacharyya AR(C) IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side WPA No.18201 of 2026 Shib Shankar Banerjee -vs- The State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Sakti Pada Jana …for the petitioner Mr. Joy Ranjan Dhar …for the State 1. The petitioner retired from service on December 31, 2025. He alleges that he has not been paid his terminal dues allegedly because of objection was raised by the District Inspector of Schools (SE), Kolkata being the pension sanctioning authority on October 10, 2025 saying that excess amount was paid to the petitioner and he has been directed to refund the excess. 2. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of State of Punjab & Ors. Vs. Rafiq Masih (White Washer) & Ors. reported in (2015) 4 SCC 334 laid down that recovery from retired employees and recovery from employees who are due to retire within one year of the order of recovery is impermissible. 3. In the instant case, the petitioner has been directed to refund the amount immediately prior to his retirement. The same could not have been done. 4. As the teacher has retired from service on December 31, 2025, the authority ought to have taken steps to release his terminal dues without any further delay. 5. Though it will be permissible for the authority to fix the scale of pay of the petitioner in the proper scale, but the respondent authorities will be restrained from recovering any amount from the petitioner. 6. The District Inspector of Schools is directed to forward all documents to the Director of Pension, Provident Fund & Group Insurance, West Bengal at the earliest but positively within 90 days from the date of communication of this order for issuing the PPO in favour of the petitioner. 7. The authority shall ensure that the admissible dues of the petitioner are disbursed without any further delay. 8. In the event the petitioner is aggrieved by the fixation of his pay after his retirement, it will be open for the petitioner to approach the competent forum for relief in accordance with law, if so advised. 9. All parties are to act on the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court. 10. Certified server copy of this order, if applied for, shall be made available to the parties. [Amrita Sinha, J] 2 3