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Anil Kumar & Ors vs. Dr. Pramod Kumar, Registrar, JNU & Anr

Contempt Case (Civil) · 2026:DHC:7877Decided 15 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
CONT.CAS(C) 545/2017CNR: DLHC013360302017
Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar

Background

Former JNU caretakers/employees alleged that the university had not complied with the Court's 2013 and 2017 orders directing restoration and revision of their pay scales. JNU filed compliance reports and affidavits showing the relevant pay scales had, in fact, been granted and continuously drawn without reduction, and that all consequential benefits under later pay commissions had been extended.

Decision Breakdown

The Court noted that despite being given a specific opportunity in 2023 to identify any amount still outstanding, the petitioners never filed any documentation quantifying an alleged shortfall. In the absence of any material contradicting JNU's detailed compliance affidavit, the Court held there was nothing left to adjudicate and closed the long-pending contempt proceedings without further orders.

Lesson Learnt

In a contempt case alleging non-compliance with a court order, a bare oral assertion that "nothing has been paid" is not enough: the person alleging non-compliance must actually point to specific, documented amounts or benefits that remain unpaid.

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