CAT Gives Officials 10 Weeks To Decide Kashmiri Migrant Teacher’s Pay, Promotion And Arrears Claims

The applicant was appointed as a General Line Teacher in 2011 under the Prime Minister’s Special Package for Rehabilitation of Kashmiri Migrants. After pursuing an M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences through regular mode, she sought to resume duty in 2017. Her intervening absence was subsequently considered for adjustment against leave due, and she was permitted to rejoin in 2021.

She claimed re-fixation of pay, time-bound promotion and consequential arrears, stating that her representations had not been decided. At the hearing, she limited her request to a direction requiring the respondents to consider those claims; the AAG did not oppose disposal on appropriate directions.

The order cites no specific statute, regulation or precedent. It directs the competent authority to consider the claims under the applicable rules, regulations, government instructions and law, subject to the applicant’s eligibility and entitlement and the absence of any legal impediment.

The Tribunal expressly left all questions of fact and law open and did not decide the merits.

Given the applicant’s limited prayer and the respondents’ non-opposition to disposal with appropriate directions, the Tribunal concluded that keeping the Original Application pending would serve no useful purpose.

It therefore left the substantive entitlement questions to the competent authority, requiring consideration of the application and supporting documents under the governing legal framework, without expressing a view on the merits.

The respondents must issue a detailed, reasoned and speaking order within ten weeks of service of a certified copy of the order.

No opinion was expressed on the merits, and there was no order as to costs.