16 Postal Employees’ Contempt Case Closed After Tribunal Finds Compliance; They May Challenge Benefit Calculations Separately

The applicants filed a contempt petition alleging non-compliance with the Tribunal’s directions in OA No. 3466/2019.

At the hearing on 1 September 2026, their counsel stated that two applicants had not received consequential payments.

The applicants later acknowledged in an affidavit that payment had been made, but disputed the respondents’ calculation sheets, including the sheet for Applicant No. 13.

The Tribunal considered whether the respondents had complied with the directions in the OA.

1. Whether the respondents had complied with the Tribunal’s directions in OA No. 3466/2019.

2. Whether the applicants’ objections to the respondents’ calculation sheets could be pursued in the contempt proceedings or before an appropriate forum.

The Tribunal cited no statute or precedent.

It applied the principle that a contempt petition concerns compliance with the directions whose breach is alleged; a dispute over the correctness of consequential-benefit calculations may be pursued before an appropriate forum where the Tribunal considers the underlying directions complied with.

The Tribunal noted that the applicants’ later acknowledgement that payments had been made contradicted counsel’s earlier statement that two applicants remained unpaid.

It treated the remaining complaint as a dispute about the calculation sheets rather than non-payment.

On considering the calculations and the record, it found that the respondents had complied with the OA directions, while leaving the applicants free to challenge the calculations separately.

It closed CP No. 377/2024, discharged the notices, and left the applicants at liberty to challenge the calculations before the appropriate forum.