Customs Officer’s Widow Gets CAT’s 1996 Pay-Revision Directions Applied to Her Pension Claim

The applicant, widow of a deceased Assistant Commissioner of Customs, challenged a communication dated 13 August 2026 concerning her claim for revised pay and pension benefits for her husband from 1 January 1996.

She sought pay refixation, arrears, a revised Pension Payment Order, consequential benefits, interest and costs.

The Tribunal noted that the claim raised the same issue as OA No. 957/2023 and connected matters, which it had decided on 17 April 2026.

1. Whether the applicant’s claim for revised pay and consequential pension benefits was governed by the Tribunal’s decision in OA No. 957/2023 and connected matters.

2. Whether the applicant was entitled to relief on the same terms as those directed in that decision.

The Tribunal applied its directions in OA No. 957/2023 and connected matters.

In that decision, it directed the Department of Revenue to provide Inspectors the pay scale of Rs. 6,500–10,500 and Superintendents the pay scale of Rs. 7,500–12,000 notionally from 1 January 1996 and actually from 21 April 2004, with consequential benefits, including pension.

The Tribunal stated that this approach would promote uniformity and avoid further litigation.

Having found that the present OA involved the same issue and sought the same relief as OA No. 957/2023 and connected matters, the Tribunal adopted the earlier decision’s directions without separately analysing the applicant’s individual entitlement or the impugned communication.

It therefore disposed of the OA on the same lines as the earlier matters.

The incorporated directions required the Department of Revenue to revise the specified pay scales notionally from 1 January 1996 and actually from 21 April 2004, with consequential benefits, including pension, within two months of receiving the earlier order.

No order as to costs was made.