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In a meeting with officials of the Department of Expenditure (DoE), Ministry of Finance, the National Council – Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) (Staff Side) requested to simplify the process of waiving recovery of overpayments made to Central Government employees. NC-JCM said that after the meeting, DoE Secretary has assured the employees organization that they will consider these demands in talks with the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

In a letter to NC-JCM members dated July 3, its secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra said that in a meeting with the DoE of the Finance Ministry on July 2, the main organization of central government employees discussed the issue of recovery of excess payments or wrong payments made to employees. Mishra said that a note of demands was handed over to the DoE Secretary, based on which suggestions were also given to fix the problem. The Secretary said that the employees' organization had raised the same issue with the Cabinet Secretary in its 49th AGM in May 2026.

Which main issue was raised by NC-JCM in the meeting with DoE Secretary?

NC-JCM, in its note sent to DoE, has said that the service records of central government employees are audited from time to time and the audit authorities approve them. The next audit team, instead of examining service records from the date of the previous audit, also examines the time frame that has already been audited. They raise such objections as giving excessive leave, paying more salary for leave, fixing wrong salary on promotion, wrong promotion etc.

What problems arise due to these mistakes?

The employees' organization also says that on the basis of these audits, the authorities start recovering excess payments or wrong payments from the salaries and terminal benefits of retiring employees without taking any waiver action. NC-JCM further says that in the name of fixing responsibility, the process of granting exemption from recovery is delayed.

NC-JCM says that since such overpayments usually come to light after many years, the officers who handled such cases at the time of overpayments have either been transferred or retired. In many cases, the documents related to overpayment may not even be available with the employee.

Why did NC-JCM object to such mistakes?

NC-JCM said that the problem of overpayment is not the fault of the employees and is entirely due to administrative lapses/mistakes. Employees cannot be made victims for administrative errors. The employee organization said that once the service records are audited, they should not be audited again for the same time frame which has already been audited and found to be correct.

What does NC-JCM expect from the government in this matter?

In its note, NC-JCM has suggested DoE, Ministry of Finance to take some measures which can help in correcting the mistakes. These suggestions are as follows-

• DoP&T's Office Memorandum (OM) dated March 2, 2016 should be strictly implemented by all Ministries/Departments and their subordinate organizations/units etc. Appropriate action should be taken if this OM is not implemented.
• The power to waive recovery of overpayment falling in the five categories/situations mentioned in DoP&T's OM dated March 2, 2016, for an amount up to Rs 5 lakh in each case, should be given to the Head of the Department, so that there is no unnecessary delay in the process.
• The right to waive recovery of payments above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh should be given to the concerned ministries/departments.
• The matter of waiving recovery of payment more than Rs 10 lakh should be sent to 'Department of Expenditure'.
• Whenever any employee comes to know of overpayment and he falls in the five situations mentioned in the OM of DoP&T, the head of the concerned department should inform the concerned employees without any delay. Thereafter, steps should be taken to waive off the excess payment as per prescribed procedures.

Saurabh Sharma

Covering stock market, economy and commodities for 15 years. Before joining TV9, he was also associated with many big organizations like DNA, A-Shiyanet, Jansatta and Rajasthan Patrika.

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