MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court recently directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to release retirement dues of a former Surveillance Investigator that they withheld because he had not cleared the Marathi proficiency test. The court also held that any delay in disbursing the dues would attract interest, which would be recoverable from that officer’s salary who would be responsible for the delay.
On October 16, the division bench of Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Ashwin D Bhobe was hearing a petition filed by Ibrahim Abdul Gafoor Naik, a 58-year-old retired BMC employee who had been working with the civic body since 1991. Naik approached the court after the corporation withheld his June 2025 salary and retirement benefits amounting to ₹22.91 lakh, citing his failure to clear the mandatory Marathi language proficiency examination.
According to the corporation’s communications dated June 4 and June 13, 2025, Naik allegedly received excess increments under the Sixth Pay Commission from February 2006, despite not having passed the language test. The BMC argued that it was entitled to recover ₹18.73 lakh in overpaid salary, along with ₹4.17 lakh in arrears, totalling ₹22.91 lakh.
Naik, represented by advocate Panthi Desai, challenged the deductions as arbitrary. He argued that the payments were made due to the corporation’s own administrative oversight and that he had rendered continuous service without any complaint regarding his work being affected due to his proficiency. His counsel cited precedents from both the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court, which held that recovery of overpaid salary from retired or low-ranking employees is impermissible unless fraud or misrepresentation is proven.
After hearing both sides, the bench observed that while Naik had indeed not cleared the Marathi exam, there was no allegation that this deficiency had affected his day-to-day functioning during his decades of service. The judges also noted that the BMC had not issued any formal recovery order before withholding the dues.
“The rest of the amount shall be released within eight weeks,” the court directed, warning that if the BMC failed to make the payment within the stipulated period, it must pay 6% annual interest on the delayed amount, recoverable from the salary of the officer responsible for the lapse.