2026:JHHC:222-DB 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P.(S) No. 7713 of 2025 1. Ramjit Singh, S/o Late Kamla Singh, R/o Nunukdih, Jitpur, PO & PS-Jorapokhar, District-Dhanbad 2. Govind Prasad Gupta, S/o Late Mohan Lal Gupta, R/o J.C. Mallick Road, Prit Vihar Colony, Dhanbad 3. Usman Mia, S/o Late Salim, R/o Ramjanpur, PO-Jitpur, PS- Jorapokhar, District-Dhanbad 4. Chetlal Mahto, S/o Late Bhikhu Mahto, R/o Dhokara, PO- Damodarpur, PS-Baliapur, District-Dhanbad ... ... Petitioners Versus 1. The Union of India, through the Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Government of India, New Delhi 2. The Chairman, Steel Authority of India Limited, having its office at Ispat Bhawan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 3. The Director Personnel, Steel Authority of India Limited, having its office at Ispat Bhawan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 4. The Executive Director (Coal), Steel Authority of India Limited, Collieries Division, having its office at Officer’s Colony, Bungalow No. D-3/1, Chasnala, PO & PS-Chasnala, District- Dhanbad 5. The Chief General Manager (P & A), Steel Authority of India Limited, Collieries Division, having its office at Officer’s Colony, Bungalow No. D-3/1, Chasnala, PO & PS-Chasnala, District- Dhanbad 6. The Chief General Manager, Steel Authority of India Limited, Collieries Division, having its office at Officer’s Colony, Bungalow No. D-3/1, Chasnala, PO & PS-Chasnala, District- Dhanbad 7. The General Manager, Steel Authority of India Limited, Colliery Division, Jitpur Colliery, PO-Jitpur, PS-Jorapokhar, District- Dhanbad ... … Respondents ----- CORAM: HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR ----- For the Petitioners : Mr. Sanjay Prasad, Advocate For the Respondent-SAIL : Mr. Indrajit Sinha, Advocate Mr. Ankit Vishal, Advocate ----- Order No. 02 Dated: 07.01.2026 Aggrieved by the dismissal of the contempt petition by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, the petitioners have filed the instant writ petition. 2026:JHHC:222-DB 2 2. The record reveals that the petitioners had approached the learned Tribunal for the grant of following substantive reliefs: “(a) Grant leave under Rule 4(5) of the Central Administrative Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1987 to move this application jointly. (b) To set aside and quash the impugned circular dated 01.11.2006 issued by the respondent from which the applicants are miserably affected. (c) To direct the respondent authorities to make disbursement of the revised wages and arrears accrued thereon in favour of the applicant on the basis of the agreed terms and conditions of NCWA-VI and NCWA-VII as accepted by the authority in the meeting convened on 05.09.2015. (d) To issue of appropriate direction for delayed payment of arrears with the interest at the rate of 24% which is computable from 01.07.1996 till the date of actual payment of the same. (e) Also prays for issuance of direction upon the respondent to deduct the contribution towards pension for the resettlement of just and fair pension of the Applicants for the interest of justice. (f) Also prays for issuance of direction upon the respondent to provide the ready calculation sheet showing the details of payable amount to the retired applicants so that any discrepancy in the calculation sheet be rectified in advance and the retired applicants may not be harassed and frustrated due to their poor health and age being average about 70 years. 2026:JHHC:222-DB 3 (g) For issuance of any other appropriate order/directions in the interest of justice which this Hon’ble Tribunal deems fit and proper for the ends of justice.” 3. The case of the applicants including the petitioners was that they are retired as non-executive employees of the Steel Authority of India Limited and have been continuously demanding revision of their wages and arrears as per the terms and conditions of the National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA) as revised and renewed from time to time. Pursuant to the memorandum of settlement entered into between the authority and the workmen, it was resolved that the action with regard to the arrears of payment of superannuated employees had already been started and would be settled at the earliest. Clause-9 of the said agreement provided that the revised wages and allowances would be paid from the month of October 2000. However, the applicants were not given the revised pay and arrears then on 15.06.2004, some of them represented the Hon’ble Minister of Steel and after various discussions between the authorities and the representatives of the ex-employees including the petitioners, the respondents agreed for the same, but issued a circular dated 04.11.2016, wherein it was declared that the payment of arrears of wages would be paid with effect from 01.01.1997 to 31.03.2006 in three installments which, according to the applicants, was arbitrary and illegal constraining them to approach the learned Tribunal for the reliefs as quoted above. 2026:JHHC:222-DB 4 4. The respondents had filed a written statement wherein they submitted that in pursuance of the circular dated 04.11.2016, all on rolled employees (Non-Executives and Executives) and retired employees had already been paid the arrears of wage revision with effect from 01.01.1997 in two equal installments, and it was also submitted that the memorandum of agreement dated 16.02.2006 clearly provided that the fixation of pay in the revised scales of pay would be effective from 01.01.1997 on notional basis and the actual payment would commence from 01.04.2005 in the revised scale of pay and accordingly, prayed for dismissal of the petition. 5. The learned Tribunal proceeded on the premise that it was the admitted position on behalf of the respondents that they had already conceded that they would be paying the arrear amount. It is at that stage that the learned counsel for the applicants including the petitioners before the Tribunal questioned only the basis on which the calculation of arrear amount had been prepared by the respondents and prayed for a direction upon the respondents to provide the calculation chart. 6. Based on such submission, the learned Tribunal disposed of the petition observing as under: “8. With consent of the parties, this OA is disposed of with direction to the respondents to verify the revised wages and arrear amount that has been calculated by themselves and provide a calculation chart showing the details of payable amount to the applicants before making 2026:JHHC:222-DB 5 payment within a period of three months from the date of receipt of this order. If the applicants are still aggrieved with the same, they are free to raise their grievance before the respondent authorities. No order as to costs and interests.” 7. Despite there being no effective direction by the courts save and except the one quoted above, the applicants including the petitioners, for some strange reason, filed a contempt petition. Even though the copy of the contempt petition has not been annexed with the instant writ petition, however, from perusal of paragraph-4 of the impugned order, we find that it was the case of the petitioners before the Tribunal that the respondents had not paid the arrears under the NCWA- VI and NCWA-VII agreements. 8. As noticed above, there was no effective direction passed by the Tribunal qua the payments more particularly the one sought for under NCWA-VI and NCWA-VII. Therefore, in such circumstances, obviously, the Tribunal had no option but to dismiss the contempt petition by observing that the order as earlier passed by the Tribunal did not specifically direct payment in accordance with any particular agreement, but merely instructed the respondents to share their own calculation with the petitioners. 9. This being the factual situation, we really wonder how this petition is maintainable before this Court. Clearly, the instant writ petition is misconceived and the same is accordingly 2026:JHHC:222-DB 6 dismissed. However, the dismissal of this petition shall not come in the way of the petitioners in case they choose to file a substantive petition for the redressal of their grievance. (Tarlok Singh Chauhan, C.J.) (Rajesh Shankar, J.) January 07, 2026 Manish/Ritesh/N.A.F.R.