Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday issued a contempt notice to Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha over what it described as incorrect facts presented before the court in the case concerning dearness allowance (DA) dues of government employees and pensioners.
The court’s action came a day after it questioned Sinha over claims regarding the status of a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Punjab government before the Supreme Court.
The High Court said facts presented in Sinha’s affidavit appeared to be incorrect and asked why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for allegedly “deliberately misleading” the court. The chief secretary has also been directed to appear personally at the next hearing on Friday.
The development followed a report obtained by the High Court from the Supreme Court registry regarding the status of the state government’s appeal.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor observed that the Supreme Court registry’s report indicated that an incorrect statement had been made before the High Court during the previous hearing.
The bench had earlier directed the High Court registry to obtain an update from the Supreme Court registry on the status of the Punjab government’s appeal. Sinha was also asked to remain personally present before the court.
During Monday’s hearing, the High Court had questioned why the state government appeared to be delaying the matter. The court observed that if Punjab had filed its appeal before the Supreme Court on September 1, proceedings should have progressed by now.
The court noted that it had already given the state government three opportunities to pursue legal proceedings before the Supreme Court, resulting in repeated adjournments. It questioned whether the state was attempting to use the pending legal proceedings to delay compliance.
Sinha had stated in his affidavit that the defects in the Supreme Court petition had been rectified and that the appeal had been re-filed. The High Court had warned on Monday that the government would have to face consequences if those claims were found to be incorrect.
The case relates to an earlier High Court order directing the Punjab government to pay outstanding DA to employees and pensioners within 15 days. The state government challenged that order before the Supreme Court on September 1.
