Contempt petition closed with liberty to revive upon incomplete compliance within four weeks.

The applicants, 111 Staff Nurses, instituted Contempt Petition No. 763/2025 in connection with OA No. 646/2021 before the Central Administrative Tribunal, alleging non-compliance with the Tribunal’s earlier directions.

During the contempt proceedings, counsel for the respondents submitted that the Tribunal’s directions had been complied with.

Counsel for the applicants referred to a similar order in CP No. 737/2025 in OA No. 2527/2022, where liberty had been granted to approach the Tribunal by way of a miscellaneous application in the event of default, and requested a similar direction in the present matter.

1. Whether the respondents had complied with the directions issued by the Tribunal in OA No. 646/2021.

2. Whether the applicants should be granted liberty to revive or otherwise approach the Tribunal if the respondents failed to fully comply with the Tribunal’s directions within the stipulated period.

The Tribunal applied the principle that a contempt petition may be closed where the alleged contemnors represent that the underlying judicial directions have been complied with, while preserving the applicants’ right to seek further relief if compliance is incomplete or a default subsequently occurs.

The Tribunal also followed the approach adopted by the Coordinate Bench in CP No. 737/2025 in OA No. 2527/2022, which permitted the affected parties to approach the Tribunal by way of an appropriate miscellaneous application in the event of non-compliance.

The respondents asserted that the Tribunal’s directions had been complied with, whereas the applicants sought procedural protection against any incomplete or delayed compliance.

Rather than adjudicating a fresh dispute regarding the extent of compliance, the Tribunal adopted the course previously followed by the Coordinate Bench and balanced both positions by closing the contempt petition while granting the applicants four weeks to verify and pursue compliance.

The liberty to revive the matter was conditional upon the directions not being fully complied with within that period.

The applicants were granted liberty to revive the petition if the Tribunal’s directions were not fully complied with within four weeks.

The notices were discharged.