TMI Blog2014 (7) TMI 1352X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the amount is paid to the employee and on a later date if the employer after proper determination of the same discovers that the excess payment is made by mistake or negligence, the excess payment so made could be recovered. Article 142 of the Constitution of India is supplementary in nature and cannot supplant the substantive provisions, though they are not limited by the substantive provisions in the statute. It is a power that gives preference to equity over law. It is a justice oriented approach as against the strict rigors of the law - The Court have compartmentalized and differentiated the relief in the operative portion of the judgment by exercise of powers Under Article 142 of the Constitution as against the law declared. The directions of the Court Under Article 142 of the Constitution, while moulding the relief, that relax the application of law or exempt the case in hand from the rigour of the law in view of the peculiar facts and circumstances do not comprise the ratio decidendi and therefore lose its basic premise of making it a binding precedent. This Court on the qui vive has expanded the horizons of Article 142 of the Constitution by keeping it outside the pur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 6308, 28655, 28812, 28813, 28814, 28816, 28815, 28818, 28817, 28823, 28819, 28824, 28825, 28827, 28828, 28829, 33343, 33345, 30246, 33347, 33350, 33348, 33352, 33353, 33354, 33356, 35328, 37149, 37151, 37152, 37153, 37154, 39202, of 2012 S.L.P. No. 21554, 15307, 519, 523, 524, 13023, 11072, 11068, 11069, 15852, 5765, 5821, 5753, 5810, 5838, 5751, 9907, 9909, 9912, 9911, 9914, 9915, 9913, 9916, 9918, 10927, 10928, 10929, 10930, 10931, 10936, 10933, 10934, 10935, 10938, 10939, 10941, 10940, 10942, 10943, 13021, 14780, 14782, 15299, 15300, 20830, 15301, 15302, 15303, 15305, 19469, 17618, 20529, 16788 and 18880, 21492 of 2013 and S.L.P. Nos. 8086 and 8103 of 2014 ORDER 1. These batch of matters are placed before us for authoritative pronouncement on the apparent difference of opinion expressed on one hand in the cases of Shyam Babu Verma and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. (1994) 2 SCC 521 and Sahib Ram Verma v. State of Haryana (1995) Supp. 1 SCC 18 and on the other hand, in Chandi Prasad Uniyal and Ors. v. State of Uttarakhand and Ors. (2012) 8 SCC 417. The order of reference made by this Court reads as under: In View of an apparent difference of views expressed on the on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ess amount which has already been paid to them. (Emphasis supplied) 6. In Sahib Ram Verma's case (Supra), this Court once again held that although the Appellant-therein did not possess the required educational qualification, yet the Principal granting him the relaxation, had paid his salary on the revised pay scale. This Court further observed that this was not on account of misrepresentation made by the Appellant but by a mistake committed by the Principal. In a fact situation of that nature, the Court was pleased to observe that the amount already paid to the Appellant need not be recovered. In the words of the Court: Admittedly the Appellant does not possess the required educational qualifications. Under the circumstances the Appellant would not be entitled to the relaxation. The principal erred in granting him the relaxation. Since the date of relaxation the Appellant had been paid his salary on the revised scale. However, it is not on account of any misrepresentation made by the Appellant that the benefit of the higher pay scale was given to him but by wrong construction made by the Principal for which Appellant cannot be held to be fault. Under the circumstances ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stipulation in the fixation order that in the condition of irregular/wrong pay fixation, the institution in which the Appellants were working would be responsible for recovery of the amount received in excess from the salary/pension. In such circumstances, we find no reason to interfere with the judgment of the High Court. However we order that excess payment made be recovered from the Appellants salary in 12 equal monthly instalments. 9. In our view, the law laid down in Chandi Prasad Uniyal's case, no way conflicts with the observations made by this Court in the other two cases. In those decisions, directions were issued in exercise of the powers of this Court Under Article 142 of the Constitution, but in the subsequent decision this Court Under Article 136 of the Constitution, in laying down the law had dismissed the petition of the employee. This Court in a number of cases had battled with tracing the contours of the provision in Article 136 and 142 of the Constitution of India. Distinctively, although the words employed under the two aforesaid provision speak of the powers of this Court, the former vest a plenary jurisdiction in supreme court in the matter of entertaini ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dia is supplementary in nature and cannot supplant the substantive provisions, though they are not limited by the substantive provisions in the statute. It is a power that gives preference to equity over law. It is a justice oriented approach as against the strict rigors of the law. The directions issued by the court can normally be categorized into one, in the nature of moulding of relief and the other, as the declaration of law. 'Declaration of Law' as contemplated in Article 141 of the Constitution: is the speech express or necessarily implied by the Highest Court of the land. This Court in the case of Indian Bank v. ABS Marine Products (P) Ltd. 2006 5 SCC 72, Ram Pravesh Singh v. State of Bihar (2006) 8 SCC 381 and in State of U.P. v. Neeraj Awasthi (2006) 1 SCC 667, has expounded the principle and extolled the power of Article 142 of the Constitution of India to new heights by laying down that the directions issued Under Article 142 do not constitute a binding precedent unlike Article 141 of the Constitution of India. They are direction issued to do proper justice and exercise of such power, cannot be considered as law laid down by the Supreme Court Under Article 141 o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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