20 09.10.2026 Court No.24 pg. IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION APPELLATE SIDE WPA 3476 of 2026 Shrabani Pal -versus- The State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Aninda Bhattacharya … For the petitioner 1. Affidavit of service filed in Court today be retained with the records. 2. In spite of service, none appears on behalf of the State respondents. 3. The petitioner retired on December 31, 2025 on attaining his normal age of superannuation. The Pension Payment Order was issued in his favour on December 17, 2025. Prior thereto, the petitioner was directed to deposit a sum of Rs.3,94,294/- on account of refund of overdrawn payment which the petitioner did by a treasury challan dated September 15, 2025. 4. In the instant writ petition the petitioner prays for refund of the aforesaid overdrawn amount. 5. It has been submitted that the said amount could not have been directed to be refunded on account of excess payment immediately prior to the retirement of the teacher. 6. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter 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 2 within one year of the order of recovery is impermissible. 7. 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. 8. In view of the above, the instant writ petition is disposed of by directing the Director of Pension, Provident Fund & Group Insurance, the concerned District Inspector of Schools and the concerned Treasury Officer to refund to the petitioner the aforesaid amount along with interest @ 6% per annum calculated from the date of issuance of the Pension Payment Order till date of actual payment at the earliest but positively within a period of twelve weeks from the date of communication of this order. 9. The writ petition stands disposed of. 10. All parties shall act on the basis of a server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court. 11. Certified server copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties on compliance of all requisite formalities. [Amrita Sinha, J.]