Banks have no right to recover any amount even if undertaking is there, says High Court

Provinding major relief to the pensioners, Punjab and Haryana High Court has stated that a pensioner's undertaking does not grant the bank an absolute right to recover any amount assessed and paid by them.

While speaking on recovery of money, the High Court has observed that money can only be recovered if the pension was incorrectly assessed by the bank itself.

The court emphasized that the bank cannot take advantage of an undertaking filed 16 years ago when it was responsible for determining the pension.


"The undertaking cannot be read in a way that for all times if a bank makes an incorrect assessment of pension for quite a long time in the account of a pensioner, it would have the right to recover (sic). It is not the case that the pension was assessed by the petitioner or she had submitted papers disclosing an incorrect figure," HC held in an order released on Tuesday.

The court ordered the disposal of the petition, granting the bank the right to withhold the amount in the petitioner's account, but prohibiting any additional recovery beyond that amount.

Justice Jagmohan Bansal issued these orders while resolving a petition filed by Phoolwati (84), who sought to challenge the recovery action initiated against her by the authorities.