Recovery from retiral benefits may continue after superannuation when proceedings began in service and rules permit loss adjustment.

Service rules permitting recovery of pecuniary loss caused by employee negligence can support proceedings initiated before superannuation, and those proceedings may continue after retirement for adjustment against retiral benefits. Where a show cause notice and charge-sheet were issued while the employee was still in service, retirement does not by itself extinguish the employer's right to recover the loss from gratuity or other terminal dues. The High Court should not interfere in writ jurisdiction when the action is not shown to be without authority or jurisdiction. Accordingly, recovery proceedings and consequential orders were treated as legally sustainable notwithstanding superannuation.

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Issues: Whether disciplinary proceedings for recovery of pecuniary loss and adjustment of the amount against retiral benefits could be initiated and continued after the employee's superannuation, when the show cause notice and charge-sheet were issued on the last day of service.

Analysis: The proceedings were founded on alleged negligence causing financial loss to the employer and were covered by the service rules permitting recovery of pecuniary loss from pay or other amounts due to the employee. The show cause notice had been issued while the employee was in service, and the regular notice was also served on the last day of service. The mere fact of retirement did not extinguish the employer's right to proceed for recovery of loss from gratuity and other terminal dues. The Court further held that the High Court ought not to have interfered in writ jurisdiction where the action complained of was not without authority or jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The proceedings and the consequential recovery orders were not illegal merely because the employee had retired, and the High Court's quashing of them was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where service rules authorize recovery of pecuniary loss caused by an employee's negligence, proceedings initiated while the employee is still in service may continue after superannuation for adjustment against retiral benefits.

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