The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday barred Punjab government from issuing any large-scale advertising campaigns till it releases Dearness Allowance (DA) to employees and pensioners in compliance with a recent judgment of a single-bench..A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor passed the direction while rejecting Punjab government and Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL)'s appeals challenging a single-judge verdict.The single-judge had on April 8 directed the State and PSPCL to release till June 30 all up-to-date pending installments of DA or Dearness Relief (DR) to all its employees and pensioners at the same rates as has been paid to the members of the All India Services (IAS/IPS/IFS) serving within Punjab.Today, the Division Bench said the payment be done within a fortnight and in case of default, the unpaid amounts shall carry simple interest of 6 percent per annum. The Court said a compliance report be filed before end of this month."Till all such dues are cleared, the State of Punjab shall not resort to any unproductive expenditures such as large-scale advertising campaigns in print or social media as these expenses cannot justify the denial of dues admissible to State employees," the Bench ordered..In 2021, Punjab government had approved the recommendation of the 6th Pay Commission to grant DA/DR to the State employees on the Central Government pattern. However, despite the approval, it failed to release the amounts. Consequently, a number of petition were filed to seek release of the dues. The Court was told employees and pensioners of the State were being paid 16% less DA than All India Service Officers.In response, Punjab government cited financial constraints. It also referred to a liquidation plan under which the payment of pension was staggered based on the age of pensioners. The same had also been adopted by the PSPCL for its pensioners. In April, Justice Harpreet Singh Brar ruled that this plan was violative of Article 14 as it created an impermissible differentiation within a homogeneous class of pensioners. The judge then directed the PSPCL to release the arrears of revised pension/family pension (including DR arrears) as per 6th Punjab Pay Commission to all their pensioners and family pensioners. The State government and PSPCL challenged the judgment. Today, the appeals were dismissed. .Advocate General Maninderjit Singh Bedi, Additional Advocate General Maninder Singh Garcha along with Senior Deputy Advocate Generals Salil Sabhlok and Rajeev Madan appeared for State of Punjab.Senior Additional Advocate General Anu Chatrath with Advocate Ratik Chatrath Kapur also appeared for State authorities.Senior Advocate DS Patwalia with Advocate AS Chadha also represented State authorities. .Senior Advocate Chanchal K Singla with Advocates Kavita Joshi and Medha Dewan appeared for Punjab State Power Corporation Limited. Senior Advocate Rahul Sharma with Advocate Yash Tayal also represented PSPCL. Senior Advocate Sanjay Kaushal with Advocates Sunny Singla, Riti Aggarwal, Arjun Kaushal and Ankit Rana represented private respondents.Senior Advocate Chetan Mittal with Advocates Gagneshwar Walia, Jatinder Singh Gill and Fateh Singh Dhillon represented intervenors. [Read Judgment]
