Execution proceedings cannot continue after full compliance with directions granting promotions and consequential benefits.

The applicant, Anil Kumar Rai, filed an execution application under Section 27 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, seeking enforcement of the Tribunal’s order dated 27 August 2021 in O.A. No. 1064 of 2017.

In that order, the respondents were directed to determine the applicant’s proper date of regularisation with reference to his initial appointment on 2 March 1989, grant consequential promotions from the dates he became entitled to them, and release all consequential financial and service benefits within twelve weeks.

The applicant alleged that he had been wrongly regularised in the lower pay scale of Rs. 950–1500 instead of the scale of Rs. 1320–2040 with effect from 5 June 1990, and that the original order had not been properly implemented.

The respondents filed a compliance affidavit asserting that the order had been fully complied with and that consequential benefits had been granted through departmental orders.

By office order dated 19 February 2025, the respondents granted the applicant retrospective promotions corresponding to those granted to his immediate junior, Shri Sadhu Singh, namely: Technician Grade-II with effect from 1 December 2004; Technician Grade-I with effect from 28 September 2010; and Senior Technician with effect from 17 January 2013.

The respondents further stated that pay and pension would be refixed in accordance with those promotions.

The applicant nevertheless contended that, as a diploma holder, he ought to have been granted parity with his colleague/counterpart, Shri Brijesh Pal Singh, who had reached the post of Senior Section Engineer.

1. Whether the respondents had duly complied with the Tribunal’s order dated 27 August 2021 directing regularisation, consequential promotions, and release of service and financial benefits?

2. Whether the applicant was entitled to further promotional parity with Shri Brijesh Pal Singh rather than the retrospective promotions granted on the basis of his immediate junior, Shri Sadhu Singh?

The Tribunal applied Section 27 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, under which the Tribunal may secure compliance with and execute its orders.

The operative directions in the original order required the respondents to determine the applicant’s proper date of regularisation with reference to his initial appointment, grant subsequent promotions from the dates determined under the applicable rules and departmental practice, and provide all consequential service and financial benefits.

The governing principle was that execution proceedings are concerned with determining whether the operative directions of the Tribunal have been substantially and effectively complied with; they cannot ordinarily be used to enlarge or alter the original relief.

No additional judicial precedent was relied upon in the order.

The Tribunal compared the directions in the original order with the respondents’ compliance measures.

It noted that the respondents had issued the office order dated 19 February 2025 granting the applicant retrospective promotions corresponding to those granted to his immediate junior, Shri Sadhu Singh, from 1 December 2004, 28 September 2010, and 17 January 2013.

The respondents had also directed refixation of pay and pension in accordance with those promotions.

Although the applicant claimed parity with Shri Brijesh Pal Singh, the Tribunal treated the promotions granted at par with the applicant’s immediate junior as sufficient compliance with the original direction.

Since the order dated 27 August 2021 had been implemented through the subsequent departmental order, the Tribunal found that no further direction was necessary in the execution proceedings.

The applicant’s claim for further promotional parity with Shri Brijesh Pal Singh was not accepted in the execution proceedings.

The execution application was accordingly dismissed, with no order as to costs, and all associated miscellaneous applications were disposed of.