Supreme court in its ruling has stated that an employer cannot legally recover excess payments made to an employee if the error was made solely by the organization and there was no fraud or misrepresentation on the employee's part.Since your official appointment orders, selection committee minutes, and pay fixation were duly signed and issued by designated authority figures in 2021 without any fraud or deceit by you, the employer cannot hold you responsible for their internal accounting or administrative errors. Therefore you should not give back the money.

You may send a written representation by  a letter/email stating that the pay fixation in 2021 was carried out by the authorized officers of the organization based on official selection minutes and there  was no misrepresentation or fraud on your part. As per Supreme Court rulings regarding recovery of excess payments, an employee cannot be forced to refund amounts paid due to administrative errors after years of service."

If HR asks you to sign an agreement agreeing to salary deductions or recovery, refuse to sign. Signing can be treated as voluntary consent.

Since you are currently working in a new post in the same organization, they may attempt to deduct the money directly from your current monthly salary or withhold dues. A legal notice issued by a lawyer referencing Rafiq Masih guidelines usually stops organizations from taking coercive recovery steps.

First, your formal appointment order and interview minutes expressly granted continuity of service and a specific pay scale, approved by competent authorities. A subsequent internal meeting that was never communicated to you cannot override this binding official document.

Second, the Supreme Court's Rafiq Masih doctrine (2015) prohibits recovery of excess payments made due to administrative error when the employee committed no fraud or misrepresentation. Courts have barred recoveries even after 17 years of erroneous payments. Recovery is especially impermissible when payments exceed five years.

Third, the doctrine of estoppel applies—you relied in good faith on the official appointment order for years. Without any undertaking from you regarding refund, recovery is unjustified.

Finally, your resignation and final settlement were already concluded. The employer cannot now reopen settled matters, particularly when you bear no fault.

You don’t have to pay the same you can dispute it

Sir/Madam, 

it is suggested that you are not at all responsible for the fault on the part of the management and you are not required to pay anything because it is a well settled case that the pay and allowances given to an employee (even if by mistake) can not be recovered by the management. There are various case laws of the High Courts and Supeme Court of Bharat supporting the case.