Employees appointed before SRO-400’s implementation are entitled to the Old Pension Scheme and consequential benefits.

The applicants, police personnel, were selected pursuant to Police Headquarters Advertisement Notification No. Pers-A:7/09/6817–6916 dated 07 February 2009 for recruitment as Constables in the 16th to 20th J&K Armed Police Battalions.

They participated in the prescribed physical, written and medical examinations, and their selection lists were issued on 28 September 2009 and 08 October 2009.

They contended that their selection preceded the introduction of SRO-400 of 2009 dated 24 December 2009, effective from 01 January 2010, and that they were therefore entitled to the Old Pension Scheme.

Their formal appointment orders were issued after completion of verification and other procedural formalities, following which they were initially placed under the New Pension Scheme.

During the proceedings, the respondents produced Order No. 1534 of 2026 dated 14 May 2026, whereby the Director General of Police, J&K, accepted the applicants’ claim and directed that their services be regulated under the service benefits applicable as on 31 December 2009, excluding the operation of SRO-400 of 2009.

1. Whether the applicants were entitled to be governed by the Old Pension Scheme on the basis of their selection pursuant to the pre-SRO-400 advertisement dated 07 February 2009.

2. Whether, in light of Order No. 1534 of 2026 dated 14 May 2026 accepting their claim, the respondents should be directed to implement that order and extend all consequential pensionary benefits to the applicants.

The Tribunal considered the effect of SRO-400 of 2009 dated 24 December 2009, which introduced the New Pension Scheme with effect from 01 January 2010, against the applicants’ claim that their entitlement was governed by the pension regime applicable before that date.

The Tribunal also noted the principles relied upon by the applicants from Showkat Ahmad Lone v. Union Territory of J&K, Neelofar Mehraj v. State of J&K, and Union Territory of J&K v. Mohammad Yousuf Wagay, concerning protection of the pre-existing pension scheme where selection occurred before implementation of SRO-400 of 2009 and delay in appointment was attributable to administrative formalities.

The controlling basis of the final order, however, was the respondents’ own administrative decision in Order No. 1534 of 2026, which accepted that the applicants’ services were to be regulated by the benefits applicable as on 31 December 2009 and that SRO-400 of 2009 would not govern them.

The Tribunal did not independently adjudicate the disputed entitlement on the merits because the competent authority had already examined the applicants’ claim and accepted it.

Order No. 1534 of 2026 expressly directed that the applicants’ service benefits be regulated under the regime applicable as on 31 December 2009 and excluded the application of SRO-400 of 2009.

Since the respondents’ decision effectively granted the substantive relief sought, the Tribunal treated the dispute as resolved and considered it appropriate to direct implementation of the accepted administrative decision, including the consequential benefits flowing from it.

The exercise was directed to be completed within eight weeks from receipt of a certified copy of the Tribunal’s order, with the result to be communicated to the applicants.

All connected miscellaneous applications, if any, were also disposed of, with no order as to costs.