CAT Closes Contempt Case By 13 Retired NCB Employees, Leaves Retirement-Benefit Calculation Grievances Open

In brief

The question

1. Whether the respondent had wilfully disobeyed the Tribunal’s directions dated 11 November 2024, warranting continuation of the contempt proceedings

The court held

The Tribunal closed the contempt petition and discharged the notices.

It also directed

It did not decide the applicants’ surviving grievances concerning calculations or the applicability of the relevant rules, and expressly left them at liberty to agitate those matters in accordance with law.

There was no order as to costs

01Facts

The applicants brought contempt proceedings alleging wilful disobedience of the Tribunal’s order dated 11 November 2024.

p. 3 · ¶ 1

That order directed the respondent to refund any amount recovered from the applicants without a show-cause notice and to pay their retirement and service benefits, including gratuity and ex-gratia on gratuity, within two months; interest at GPF rates was payable for non-compliance within that period

p. 3 · ¶ 1

The applicants contended that their benefits had not been calculated in accordance with the applicable NCB Rules, 1966, including clause 14, and raised concerns about calculation differences and delayed payment of leave encashment

pp. 9–10 · ¶ 4, 6

They also relied on a compliance calculation sheet concerning other retired NCB employees and alleged discriminatory treatment

pp. 4–8 · ¶ 3

The respondent submitted that the 7th CPC had been implemented on 9 March 2026 and that any grievance about the applicable rules or calculations constituted a separate cause of action

p. 9 · ¶ 5

02Issues

i.1. Whether the respondent had wilfully disobeyed the Tribunal’s directions dated 11 November 2024, warranting continuation of the contempt proceedings

p. 3 · ¶ 1 · p. 10 · ¶ 7–8

ii.2. Whether the applicants’ grievances concerning the calculation of retirement benefits, applicability of the NCB Rules or 7th CPC, and interest on delayed leave encashment could be determined in the contempt proceedings

pp. 9–10 · ¶ 4–8

03Law Applied

The Tribunal’s order of 11 November 2024 required refund of any recovery made without a show-cause notice and payment of retirement and service benefits, including gratuity and ex-gratia on gratuity; it also provided for GPF-rate interest if the directions were not complied with within two months of receipt of a certified copy

p. 3 · ¶ 1

The applicants invoked clause 14 of the NCB Rules, 1966, while the respondent referred to implementation of the 7th CPC

p. 9 · ¶ 4–5

The Tribunal did not determine the interpretation or applicability of those rules, or decide the applicants’ calculation and delayed-payment claims, as substantive questions in this contempt proceeding

p. 10 · ¶ 8

04Reasoning

The Tribunal considered the earlier directions and the compliance affidavit filed in the related contempt proceeding, C.P. No. 408/2025

p. 10 · ¶ 7

The applicants’ remaining complaints concerned the basis and calculation of their benefits—including the applicable rules and alleged interest on delayed leave encashment—rather than an issue the Tribunal resolved through a finding of wilful disobedience in this proceeding

pp. 9–10 · ¶ 4–8

It therefore left those substantive grievances open for the applicants to pursue through an appropriate remedy, rather than adjudicating them in contempt

p. 10 · ¶ 8