The Delhi High Court has ruled in favor of a widow, preventing the State Bank of India (SBI) from recovering alleged excess pension payments from her. The court stated that the overpayment was due to errors in pension processing and not the widow’s fault. The widow, identified as Indra, will receive a refund of the deducted amounts along with 6% annual interest.
The widow’s husband, a government employee, passed away in 2003, and a family pension was granted to her. However, the widow noticed a significant reduction in her pension due to an alleged excess payment of over Rs 2.51 lakh. The SBI recalculated the amount to Rs 3.60 lakh and started deducting it from her pension without prior notice.
The court emphasized that the widow had no role in the errors in pension processing and should not be penalized for the bank’s mistakes. It also criticized the SBI for not communicating the details of the overpayment before initiating recovery. The court directed the SBI to refund the recovered amounts with 6% interest within eight weeks.
