Respondents must implement pension-refixation directions in their true letter and spirit, without modifying the granted relief.

The applicants, pre-2006 retirees who had retired between 2001 and 2003 in the pre-revised pay scale of Rs. 5,000–8,000, challenged the manner in which their pensions were revised with effect from 1 January 2006.

In the Original Application, the Tribunal directed the respondents to re-fix their pensions with effect from 1 January 2006 on the basis of the Government Resolution dated 29 August 2008 and the principles laid down by the Full Bench of the Tribunal in O.A. No. 655/2010, and to pay consequential arrears within three months, with 6% simple interest in case of delay.

The judgment dated 23 May 2023 was supplied to the respondents on 2 June 2025, but the applicants alleged non-compliance and instituted execution proceedings; they also stated that they were advanced in age and facing hardship.

The respondents contended that the pensions had already been correctly revised under the applicable Office Memoranda dated 1 September 2008, 28 January 2013 and 6 April 2016, and that corrigendum PPOs had been issued for five applicants.

The applicants maintained that the respondents had not granted the benefit directed in the original judgment.

1. Whether the respondents had complied with the Tribunal’s judgment dated 23 May 2023 by revising the applicants’ pensions in accordance with the Resolution dated 29 August 2008 and the principles laid down in O.A. No. 655/2010.

2. Whether the respondents could rely on their earlier pension calculations and subsequent compliance affidavits or corrigendum PPOs to deny or modify the relief expressly granted in the original judgment.

3. Whether further coercive steps in execution proceedings were warranted if the respondents failed to comply by the next date of listing.

The Tribunal applied the principle that a final and binding judicial order must be implemented in its true letter and spirit, and that its directions cannot be modified or defeated through a compliance affidavit.

The pension-revision dispute was governed by the Central Government Resolution dated 29 August 2008 and the applicable pension-revision instructions, particularly the Office Memorandum dated 1 September 2008.

The Tribunal relied on the Full Bench decision in O.A. No. 655/2010, which held that the modified parity principle requires revision of pre-2006 retirees’ pensions on the basis of 50% of the minimum of the pay in the revised pay band plus grade pay corresponding to the pre-revised scale, and not merely by adopting the minimum of the revised pay band.

That Full Bench decision had been affirmed by the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, and was treated as binding.

The execution court’s function is to secure implementation of the relief already granted and not to permit the judgment-debtor to reopen or alter the merits of the adjudicated claim.

The Tribunal found that the original judgment had specifically directed re-fixation of the applicants’ pensions in accordance with the Resolution dated 29 August 2008 and the principles in O.A. No. 655/2010.

The respondents’ reliance on the fact that pensions had earlier been revised under the applicable O.M.s did not establish compliance, because the earlier calculation was precisely the subject of the applicants’ successful challenge.

Issuance of corrigendum PPOs and correction of names or parentage could not substitute for the substantive re-fixation ordered by the Tribunal.

Since the respondents had not challenged the judgment dated 23 May 2023, it remained final and binding; they could not refuse, restrict or reinterpret the granted relief through compliance or supplementary compliance affidavits.

The Tribunal therefore directed implementation in accordance with the original judgment and kept open the possibility of attachment proceedings in the event of continued non-compliance.

They were directed to comply with the original directions by properly re-fixing the applicants’ pensions with effect from 1 January 2006 under the Resolution dated 29 August 2008 and the principles of O.A. No. 655/2010, along with the consequential benefits.

The execution application was directed to be listed on 7 October 2026.

If compliance was not completed by then, the applicants were permitted to furnish particulars of the concerned office’s movable or immovable properties and official bank-account details for consideration of attachment in accordance with law.