Authority: Supreme Court of India
Order Date: 29-07-2026
Case Overview
- Petitioners: Brijesh Kumar Shukla & Ors.
- Respondents: South Eastern Coalfields Limited & Ors.
- Origin: Impugned final judgment and order dated 09-05-2025 in WA No. 904/2020 and 18-07-2025 in RP No. 980/2025 of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur.
- Petitions: Special Leave to Appeal (C) Nos. 27803‑27804/2025 and numerous related SLP applications (e.g., 29052‑29056/2025, 27807‑27811/2025, 27805‑27806/2025, 30459‑30460/2025, 30486‑30487/2025, 32882/2025, 268884/2025, 35222‑35224/2025, 29048‑29051/2025, 29017‑29022/2025, 27812/2025, 32975‑32983/2025, 35589‑35593/2025, 35062/2025, 38524/2025, 6768/2026, 6763/2026, 6772/2026, 15454/2026, 17007/2026) seeking exemption from filing O.T. or permission to file additional documents/annexures.
- Counsel: Petitioners' counsel included Mr. Pankaj Pandey, Mr. Girish Tripathi, Mr. Digvijay Prasad, among others; Respondents' counsel included Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, Mr. Vivek Ranjan Tiwari, Mr. Tarkeshwar Nath, etc.
Court Observations & Directions
- The Court ordered that petitioners must take fresh steps within two weeks from the order date to serve notice on any unserved respondents in the SLP petitions.
- If notice cannot be served within that period, the Court directed that notice be effected through paper publication within the subsequent two weeks.
- Should the petitioners fail to take these steps, the interim order previously granted in their favour shall stand vacated without further reference to the Court, and South Eastern Coalfields Limited will be at liberty to remove them from service.
- The matter is posted for further hearing on 01-09-2026.
Final Outcome
- Interim relief remains conditional on compliance with the notice‑service timeline; non‑compliance results in vacating the interim order and permits the respondent to remove the petitioners from service.
Topics: Service Notice, Special Leave to Appeal, Coal Industry Litigation