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2023 Supreme(SC) 919

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
B.R. Gavai, Vikram Nath, JJ.
All India Judges Association & Ors. – Appellants
Versus
Union of India & Ors. – Respondents
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 1022 of 1989
Decided On : 07-02-2023

Advocates Appeared:
Mr. Siddharth Bhatnagar,Sr.Advocate, (A.C.), Mr. Ankit Yadav, Advocate, Mr. Nadeem Afroz, Advocate, Mr. Qaditya Sidhra, Advocate, Ms. Pracheta Kar, Advocate, Mr. Prakriti Rastogi, Advocate, Mr. Gajjala Bhaskar, Advocate, Mr. K.M. Natraj, ASG, Mr. W.A. Qadri,Sr.Advocate, Mr. Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Mukesh K. Verma, Advocate, Ms. Priyanka Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Prahil Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Harender Singh, Advocate, Mr. Ambuj Saraswat, Advocate, Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, Advocate, Mr. R.R. Rajesh, Advocate, Mr. Raj Bahadur, Advocate, Mr. T.A. Khan, Advocate, Mr. Nalin Kohli, Advocate, Mr. B.K. Satija, Advocate, Mr. Sharath Nambiar, Advocate, Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Advocate, Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Advocate, Mr. Nakul Chengappa K.K., Advocate, Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, Advocate, Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Arpit Parkash, Advocate, Mr. D. K. Devesh, Advocate, Mr. Harsh Singh Rawat, Advocate, Ms. Snehal U. Kanzarkar, Advocate, Mr. Rakesh Khanna,Sr.Advocate, Mr. Sachin Jain, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Kumar Agarwal, Advocate, Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi, Advocate, Mr. Jaideep Gupta, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Kunal Chatterji, Advocate, Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Advocate, Mr. Rohit Bansal, Advocate, Ms. Kshitij Singh, Advocate, Mr. Akhilesh Kumar Pandey, Advocate, Mr. Rakesh Dahiya, Advocate, Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, Advocate, Mr. Abhijit Sengupta, Advocate, Mr. Pravir Kumar Jain, Advocate, Mrs. Amita Gupta, Advocate, Ms. A. Subhashini, Advocate, Mr. Shibashish Misra, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Satish Kumar, Advocate, Mr. T. V. Ratnam, Advocate, Mr. Arjun Garg, Advocate, Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Advocate, Ms. Swati Bhardwaj, Advocate, Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Niranjan Sahu, Advocate, Mr. Debabrata Dash, Advocate, Ms. Apoorva Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Bansal, Advocate, Mr. Gaurav Yadava,Advocate, . Ms. Veena Bansal, Advocate, Ms. G. Indira, Advocate, Mr. Anandh Kannan N., Advocate, Mr. Gopal Jha, Advocate, Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, Advocate, Mr. Karan Bharihoke, Advocate, Mr. C Raghavendren, Advocate, Mr. M. A. Chinnasamy, Advocate, Mr. Saurabh Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Ch. Leela Sarveswar, Advocate, Mr. M. Vishnu Venkatesh, Advocate, Mr. Manish K. Bishnoi, Advocate, M/S. Gagrat and Co, Advocate, Mr. Pravir Choudhary, Advocate, Ms. N. Annapoorani, Advocate, Mr. V. K. Sidharthan, Advocate, Mr. T. V. George, Advocate, Mr. M. Veerappa, Advocate, Mrs. V. D. Khanna, Advocate, Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Jain, Advocate, Mr. Alok Kumar, Advocate, Mr. K. Ram Kumar, Advocate, Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, Advocate, Ms. Swathi.h. Prasad, Advocate, Mr. Chander Shekhar Ashri, Advocate, Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, Advocate, Mr. T. Harish Kumar, Advocate, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Advocate, Mr. T. L. Garg, Advocate, Dr. J. P. Dhanda, Advocate, Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, Advocate, Mr. Manendra Pal Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Dhanesh Ieshdhan, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Sharawat, Advocate, Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, Advocate, Mr. S. R. Setia, Advocate, Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, Advocate, Ms. Sansriti Pathak, Advocate, Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, Advocate, Mr. Gopal Singh, Advocate, Mr. S. K. Bhattacharya, Advocate, Mrs. D. Bharathi Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Hrithik Manchanda, Advocate, Ms. Meera Mathur, Advocate, Mr. Abhisth Kumar, Advocate, Mr. G. Prakash, Advocate, Mr. Sunil Kumar Jain, Advocate, Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Praveen Swarup, Advocate, Mr. P. V. Dinesh, Advocate, Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, Advocate, Mr. Surya Kant, Advocate, Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Shantwanu Singh, Advocate, Ms. Pragya Singh, Advocate, Mr. Akshay Singh, Advocate, Ms. Kumud Lata Das, Advocate, Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, Advocate, Mrs. Bina Gupta, Advocate, Mr. R. Sathish, Advocate, Mrs. Revathy Raghavan, Advocate, Mr. Rajiv Mehta, Advocate, Mr. T. Mahipal, Advocate, Mr. B. D. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. R. N. Keswani, Advocate, Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, Advocate, Mr. P. I. Jose, Advocate, Mr. James P. Thomas, Advocate, Mr. Ravi Sagar, Advocate, M/S. Parekh & Co., Advocate, Mr. Ajit Pudussery, Advocate, Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, Advocate, Mr. Haresh Raichura, Advocate, Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, Advocate, Mr. Kanhaiya Priyadarshi, Advocate, Mr. Ashok Mathur, Advocate, Mr. Pradeep Misra, Advocate, Ms. S. Janani, Advocate, Mr. Shiv Singh Yadav, Advocate, Ms. Priya Ranjan Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Anil Shrivastav, Advocate, Mrs. Anil Katiyar, Advocate, Mr. P. Parmeswaran, Advocate, Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, Advocate, Mr. Prashant Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Rajesh Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Arun K. Sinha, Advocate, Mr. P. K. Jain, Advocate, Mr. K. R. Sasiprabhu, Advocate, Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, Advocate, Dr. Sushil Balwada, Advocate, Mr. Srilok Nath Rath, Advocate, Ms. Reena Rao, Advocate, Mr. Sunil Fernandes, Advocate, Mr. Parijat Sinha, Advocate, M/S. Arputham Aruna and Co, Advocate, Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Advocate, Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Advocate, Mr. Ankit Sharma, Advocate, Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, Advocate, Mr. K.sriram, Advocate, Dr. M.thirupathi Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Upendra Mishra, Advocate, M/S. Corporate Law Group, Advocate, Mr. R. Ramesh, Advocate, Ms. A. Sumathi, Advocate, Merry S. Mathew, Advocate, Mr. S.K. Rajora, Advocate, Ms. Nijharika Dewivedi, Advocate, Ms. Shweta Sand, Advocate, Mr. Ravish Kumar Goyal, Advocate, Mr. Nitin Sharma, Advocate, Mr. E. Vinay Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Anil Nag, Advocate, Mr. Kishan Datta, Advocate, Mr. Romy Chacko, Advocate, Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, Advocate, Mr. Mahesh Thakur, Advocate, Mr. Maibam Nabaghanashyam Singh, Advocate, Mr. Mahesh Thakur, Advocate, Ms. Radhika Gautam, Advocate, Mr. Adarsh Upadhyay, Advocate, Mr. Satish Pandey, Advocate, Mr. Dilip Annasaheb Taur, Advocate, Ms. Preetika Dwivedi, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek Mohanty, Advocate, Mr. Braj Kishore Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, Advocate, Mr. Prannoy Joe Sebastian, Advocate, Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Advocate, Mr. Vaibhav Sabharwal, Advocate, Mr. Akshay Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, A.A.G., Mr. Barun Kumar Sinha, A.A.G., Mr. Rajiv Dwivedi, Advocate, Mr. Anando Mukherjee, Advocate, Mr. Shwetank Singh, Advocate, Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Advocate, Mrs. D. Bharathi Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Hrithik Manchanda, Advocate, Mr. Maibam Nabaghanashyam Singh, Advocate, Ms. Astha Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Ravinder Singh, Advocate, Ms. Raveesha Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Srisatya Mohanty, Advocate, Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Advocate, Ms. Mantika Haryani, Advocate, Mr. Himanshu Chakravarty, Advocate, Mr. Dev Vrat Singh, Advocate, Ms. Muskan Surana, Advocate, Mr. Siddharth Sangal, Advocate, Mr. Chirag Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Manju Jetley, Advocate, Ms. Aswathi M.k., Advocate, Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, Advocate, Mr. Manendra Pal Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Dhanesh Ieshdhan, Advocate, Ms. Kavita Jha, Advocate, Mr. Aditeya Bali, Advocate, Mr. Ankit Yadav, Advocate, Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Karun Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Advocate, Mr. T. V. Ratnam, Advocate, Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, Advocate, Mrs. Anu K Joy, Advocate, Mr. Abraham C. Mathew, Advocate, Mr. Alim Anvar, Advocate, Mr. K. Rajeev, Advocate, Mr. Bijo Mathew Joy, Advocate, Ms. Niveditha R Menon, Advocate, Mr. Anandh Kannan N., Advocate, Mr. Sahil Tagotra, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek Pandey, Advocate, Ms. Abhivyakti Banerjee, Advocate, Ms. Sakshi Garg, Advocate, Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, Advocate, Mr. Aditya Shankar Pandey, Advocate, Mr. T.K. Nayak, Advocate, Mr. Marbiang Khongwir, Advocate, Mr. Upendra Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Advocate, Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, Advocate, Mr. Bharat Bagla,?Advocate, Ms. Kirti Dadheech, Advocate, Mr. Manjit Singh Gill, Advocate, Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Advocate, Ms. Yamini Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Narendra Pal Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Amit Kumar Chawla, Advocate, Ms. Sawati Singh Gill, Advocate, Mr. K. Singh, Advocate, Mrs. Pragya Baghel, Advocate, Mr. Vinod Sharma, Advocate, Mrs. Reena Devi, Advocate, Mr. Karan Thakur, Advocate, Mr. Vijay Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Ashish Sheoran, Advocate, Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, A.A.G., Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Advocate, Ms. Taruna Ardhendumauli Prasad, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Pal, Advocate, Mr. Mayank Dahiya, Advocate, Ms. Sugandh Rathor, Advocate, Ms. Priyanka C., Advocate, Mr. Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad, Advocate, Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, Advocate, Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Advocate, Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Advocate, Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Advocate, Mr. Prang Newmai, Advocate, Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, A.A.G., Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., Advocate, Mr. Shobhit Dwivedi, Advocate, Ms. Devyani Gupta, Advocate, Ms. Tanvi Anand, Advocate, Ms. Nupur Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Shridhar Y Chitale, Advocate, Mr. Pranay Chitale, Advocate, Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, Advocate, Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Advocate, Mr. Kabir Shankar Bose, Advocate, Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Advocate, Mr. Sai Shashank, Advocate, Mr. Sanjai Kumar Pathak, Advocate, Mr. Arvind Kumar Tripathi, Advocate, Mrs. Shashi Pathak, Advocate, Mr. Purushottam Sharma Tripathi, Advocate, Mr. Shashank Singh, Advocate, Mr. Som Raj Choudhury, Advocate, Ms. Shrutee Aradhna, Advocate, Mr. Prashant Kumar, Advocate, Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Advocate, Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, Advocate, Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, Advocate, Mr. Satyajeet Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Sunny Choudhary, Advocate, M/S. PLR Chambers and Co., Advocate, Mr. Malak Manish Bhatt, Advocate, Mr. Aravindh S., Advocate, Ms. Uma Bhuvaneshwari, Advocate, Mr. Abbas.b, Advocate, Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, Advocate, Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, Advocate, Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, Advocate, Mr. Akshay C. Shrivastava, Advocate, Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Pratishtha Vij, Advocate, Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, Advocate, Mr. Polanki Gowtham, Advocate, Mr. K V Girish Chowdary, Advocate, Ms. Rajeswari Mukherjee, Advocate, Ms. Niti Richhariya, Advocate, Mr. T Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Shaik Mohamad Haneef, Advocate, Mr. P. S. Sudheer, Advocate, Mr. G. N. Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Amrish Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Smarhar Singh, Advocate, Mrs. Shweta Kumari, Advocate, Mr. Jai Krishna, Advocate, Mr. Kushal Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Chandra Pratap, Advocate, Mr. Manoj Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, Advocate, Mr. Sandeep Singh, Advocate, Mr. Yogesh Pachouri, Advocate, Mr. Pawan, Advocate, Mr. Mimansak Bhardwaj, Advocate, Mr. Narendra Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Anand Kumar Dubey, Advocate, Mr. Sunil Saraogi, Advocate, Mr. Amit K Pateriya, Advocate, Counsel for Parties.

Compliance with court directions is crucial, and non-compliance may lead to contempt proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

Headnote:COMPLIANCE - Judicial Officers' Pension Disbursement - Various Sections of the Indian Constitution and Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 - The court discussed compliance with its directions regarding the disbursement of pension arrears to retired judicial officers. It emphasized the importance of actual disbursement and directed non-compliant state governments to file affidavits or face contempt proceedings. The court also granted a final opportunity for compliance.
Fact of the Case:
The court addressed non-compliance by certain state governments in disbursing pension arrears to retired judicial officers.
Finding of the Court:
The court directed non-compliant state governments to file affidavits or face contempt proceedings, granting a final opportunity for compliance.
Issues:
Non-compliance with court directions on pension arrears disbursement by certain state governments.
Ratio Decidendi:
Emphasizing the importance of actual disbursement, the court granted a final opportunity for compliance before contemplating contempt proceedings.
Final Decision:
Non-compliant state governments were given a final chance to file affidavits on compliance or face personal appearance in court and potential contempt action.

ORDER

I.A. NO.91009/2022 in I.A. NO. 88342/2022

1. These applications be placed before the Three Judge Bench, in accordance with the orders passed by this Court on 10.01.2023 in I.A. No.73015/2021 etc.

2. The Registry is, therefore, directed to place these matters before Hon'ble the Chief Justice of India for obtaining appropriate orders.

I.A. No. 23985/2023

3. Issue notice, returnable on 28.02.2023, to the Union of India through Ministry of Law and Justice and Delhi High Court through its Registrar General.

4. In addition to the usual mode, liberty is granted to the applicant(s) to serve notice through the Central Agency/Standing Counsel for the Delhi High Court.

I.A. Nos. 121642/2018, I.A. No.5933/23 in I.A. NO.121642/2018, I.A. No.162247/2018, 162248/2018, 162199/2018, and 162201/2018

5. Vide order dated 10.01.2023 passed in I.A. Nos.121642/2018 etc., this Court has specifically recorded that merely issuance of notification of revision in pension is not sufficient, what is necessary is that the arrears should actually be disbursed to the retired judicial officers.

6. We had, therefore, directed the Chief Secretaries of all the State Governments/Union Territories to file their affidavits on or prior to 03.02.2023, stating therein as to whether the amount has actually been disbursed to the retired judicial officers or not.

7. We have further clarified that if any State Government/Union Territory fails to comply with the said directions, the Court would be constrained to take action against the Chief Secretary of the State Governments/Union Territories for committing contempt of this Court.

8. Pursuant to the aforesaid order, various State Governments/Union Territories have filed their respective affidavits. The learned Amicus Curiae has placed on record a chart showing details about the State Governments/Union Territories who have complied with the directions and the State Governments/Union Territories who have not complied with the directions.

9. The chart would reveal that the States/Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gurajat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tripura, Goa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar, Chandigarh and various other Union Territories have complied with the directions issued by this Court.

10. We appreciate the State Governments/Union Territories, who have filed their respective affidavit, in compliance of the directions issued by this Court.

11. Insofar as the State of Chhattisgarh is concerned, though the affidavit filed by it is not clear as it ought to have been, Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, learned counsel appearing for the State of Chhattisgarh, on instructions, makes a categorical statement that the actual disbursement has in fact been made.

12. It would thus reveal that it is the State Governments of Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, NCT of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Telangana and Uttrakhand who have not filed their respective affidavit, as directed by this Court.

13. When a specific direction was issued to the State Governments/Union Territories to file a specific affidavit, as to whether actual disbursement has been made or not, non-compliance of the said directions could have been construed seriously and we could have proceeded to take action against the respective Chief Secretaries.

14. We may specify that insofar as the State of Jharkhand is concerned, the stand taken is totally unwarranted. A retired judicial officer cannot be expected to make an application to the Accountant General for revision of pension. All the papers pertaining to the service rendered by a Judicial Officer is always available with the employer.

15. Shri Tapesh Kumar Singh, learned Additional Advocate General for the State of Jharkhand, states that there is some problem at the end of the Accountant General and the office of the Accountant General is not under the control of the State Government.

16. When a specific directi

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2023 Supreme(SC) 919

SUPREME COURT OF INDIAB.R. Gavai, Vikram Nath, JJ.All India Judges Association & Ors. – AppellantsVersusUnion of India & Ors. – RespondentsWrit Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 1022 of 1989Decided On : 07-02-2023

Compliance with court directions is crucial, and non-compliance may lead to contempt proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
B.R. Gavai, Vikram Nath, JJ.
All India Judges Association & Ors. – Appellants
Versus
Union of India & Ors. – Respondents
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 1022 of 1989
Decided On : 07-02-2023