Divya Delhi: A retired bank employee was saved when the Karnataka High Court recently ordered Canara Bank to stop deducting more than 50% of his pension in order to pay his equivalent monthly installments against his loan balance. According to legal laws, the full pension sum can only be recovered in circumstances when an employee is proven guilty of misconduct or convicted of fraud and forgery, Justice S G Pandit explained. However, the judge permitted Canara Bank to pursue any other legal means of recouping the money, including interest. For example, he pointed out that the bank may use the security acquired to enforce the loan. "An employee receives a pension to help support himself after retirement. Generally, if an employee is still employed, [debt] recovery shouldn't be greater than 50% of their take-home pay. In his ruling, Justice Pandit noted that the same approach needed to be applied in this case as well, partially granting the petition submitted by a man named Murugan. The judge said that it would be against Article 21 of the Constitution, which protects the right to life and personal liberty, if the full pension could be used to pay back loan obligations. On November 30, 2014, 70-year-old Murugan resigned from Canara Bank and is currently living in Thrissur, Kerala. In order to prevent the recovery of his whole pension toward his loan obligations and to prevent penal interest on an educational loan for which he and his daughter were co-obligants, he petitioned the high court last year. He claims that up until June 2024, he used a portion of his pension to pay the EMIs. But the bank abruptly began deducting his entire monthly pension against EMIs in July 2024. According to Canara Bank, he owed Rs 8.5 lakh, and the bank had the authority to collect that amount. The judge clarified that the fundamental purpose of pension payment would be defeated if full recovery of the pension were allowed in order to pay off the loan sum.