The Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has granted the UT Administration a final opportunity to implement its order extending the benefits of the old pension scheme to five doctors of the UT Health Department who were regularised after January 1, 2004.
In his order, Tribunal Member (Judicial) Suresh Kumar Batra observed that the applicants’ counsel had placed on record the Supreme Court order dated May 26, 2026, dismissing the special leave petition (SLP) filed by the Chandigarh Administration against the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment dated October 14, 2025.
The tribunal noted that the UT Administration had candidly submitted before the apex court that the matter was covered by the Supreme Court’s earlier judgment in the case of State of Himachal Pradesh vs Sheela Devi.
It further observed that the High Court had upheld the tribunal’s January 29, 2025, order while dismissing the UT Administration’s writ petition. Despite the dismissal of the SLP, the administration has not yet complied with the tribunal’s directions.
The tribunal has now granted the respondents one last opportunity to implement the order before the matter comes up for hearing on July 8, 2026.
The five doctors — Dr Shivetambari Cheema, Dr Ravinderjit Singh, Dr Sonia Arora, Dr Monika Shangari and Dr Anjali Gupta — had approached the tribunal through advocate Rishav Sharma, seeking consequential benefits, including coverage under the old pension scheme, following their regularisation.
In its January 29, 2025, judgment, the tribunal had quashed the UT Administration’s August 11, 2022, order rejecting their claim for consequential benefits from the date of regularisation and consideration under the old pension scheme.
The doctors contended that they were appointed as Assistant Medical Officers against regular sanctioned posts between 1997 and 2002 on a contractual basis after fulfilling all prescribed qualifications. They argued that since their initial appointments were made through a proper selection process and later regularised pursuant to court orders, the contractual service rendered before regularisation should be counted as qualifying service for pensionary benefits and for coverage under the old pension scheme.
The tribunal had earlier directed the administration to regularise their services after completion of 10 years. Relying on several judicial precedents, including the Supreme Court’s 2023 judgment in the case of State of Himachal Pradesh vs Sheela Devi, the applicants argued that contractual service is countable towards qualifying service for pensionary benefits, making them eligible for the old pension scheme.
