Sahib Ram vs The State Of Haryana And Others on 19 September, 1994
58. The relief against recovery is granted by courts not because of any
right in the employees, but in equity, exercising judicial discretion to relieve
the employees from the hardship that will be caused if recovery is ordered.
But, if in a given case, it is proved that the employee had knowledge that the
payment received was in excess of what was due or wrongly paid, or in
cases where the error is detected or corrected within a short time of wrong
payment, the matter being in the realm of judicial discretion, courts may, on
the facts and circumstances of any particular case, order for recovery of the
amount paid in excess. See Sahib Ram v. State of Haryana [1995 Supp (1)
SCC 18 : 1995 SCC (L&S) 248], Shyam Babu Verma v. Union of India
[(1994) 2 SCC 521 : 1994 SCC (L&S) 683 : (1994) 27 ATC 121], Union of
India v. M. Bhaskar [(1996) 4 SCC 416 : 1996 SCC (L&S) 967], V.
Gangaram v. Director [(1997) 6 SCC 139 : 1997 SCC (L&S) 1652], Col.