Karnataka HC directs bank to re-credit amount deducted from family pension

Pension, is trite, not a bounty for bank to deal with, it at its whim and fancy: HC

The High Court has directed Canara Bank to re-credit Rs 6.4 lakh to the account of a 73-year old family pensioner. The bank had deducted money from the account claiming that there was excess payment made to the pensioner's account.

"Pension, is trite, not a bounty or a gratis that is granted to the pensioner or the spouse of the pensioner as a family pension, for the Bank to deal with it at its whim and fancy," Justice Nagaprasanna observed, while granting liberty to the bank to recover Rs 4,000 every month from the family pension of the petitioner, till the excess amount gets cleared.

The petitioner's husband, who worked as a technical assistant executive engineer with the state government, had retired from service in May 2002. On centralisation of pension from March 2019, the Centralized Pension Processing Centre (CPPC) started transferring the pension amount. The petitioner's husband died on February 6, 2021 and the bank, all of a sudden debited Rs 6.40 lakh from the family pension account.

The bank contended that the husband was aware of the excess amount being credited into his account and the excess amount being credited was on account of certain mistakes in the CPPC.

Justice Nagaprasanna noted that for the folly of the officers of the bank in depositing excess amount, the petitioner is being made to move from pillar to post to get a family pension of Rs 13,055.

"The petitioner pleads that it has become difficult to sustain herself and her grocery bills and medical bills have all been left unpaid and she is in a pitiful state. This state of affairs does not even move the Bank and unauthorized debit continues," the court said.

The court also pointed out that the state government has not paid any excess pension, but the same was debited because of the irresponsibility of the bank officers.

"Though recovery of excess amount is permitted in terms of the Master Circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), that would not mean that the amount that is paid in excess is to be recovered in one stroke that too, from the petitioner who is a widow depending on family pension and is suffering from ailments at the age of 73 years," the court said.