The Chandigarh-based Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) is in a dilemma in a case in which it itself had ordered to give service benefits, but the government did not follow those orders. When the court held a senior Defense Ministry official guilty of contempt and started the process of deciding the punishment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed this action. Therefore, the AFT has sent its order to the Chief Justice of the High Court and the concerned bench and has sought advice from them in clear words as to which direction it should proceed in such a situation.
The whole matter is related to Milap Chand, a resident of Haryana, who filed a petition in the AFT in February 2020 saying that he was not getting service-related benefits. Giving a decision in favor of Milap Chand, the AFT ordered the government to give him his outstanding service benefits. But no action was taken on this order by the government.
Another petition filed in AFT itself
When the order was not implemented even after several years, Milap Chand filed another petition in AFT itself, requesting the court to take action towards implementing its own old order. In response, the government filed an affidavit in the court and gave some reasons, but the AFT refused to accept it. The court admitted that the government has deliberately disobeyed the order.
After this, the AFT held the Secretary of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (DESW) under the Ministry of Defense guilty of contempt of court. The court also ordered that the officer himself should appear in the court and tell what punishment should be decided against him.
Stay on the action going on in AFT on 9 May
The officer filed a petition in the High Court against the decision. The High Court stayed the contempt proceedings going on in AFT on 9 May 2025. However, the AFT said that there is no stay on the writ petition (number 1947/2025) challenging the decision against which the decision has been given, only the contempt proceedings have been stayed.
The AFT bench, which comprises Justice Sudhir Mittal and Lieutenant General Ravendra Pal Singh, said on May 16 that it finds itself in a confusing situation. They have the right to enforce the order and punish for contempt, but when they exercise this right, the High Court stays the proceedings. In such a situation, now the tribunal is not able to understand what steps it should take next.
