P&H High Court terms Punjab's conduct in DA case painful, sends contempt of court matter to roster judge

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday said that a judge with contempt of court jurisdiction will hear the applications seeking action against Punjab government for not complying with its recent order for payment of pending dearness allowance (DA) to government employees..On August 3, the High Court had directed the State to release all up-to-date pending installments of dearness allowance/dearness relief (DA/DR) to all its employees and pensioners, respectively, at the same rates as paid to the All India Services (IAS/IPS/IFS) officers serving within Punjab.The judgment, which also bars the government from resorting to any unproductive expenditures such as large-scale advertising campaigns in print or social media till non-payment of the dues, has been challenged by the State before the Supreme Court. However, the appeal has been before the top court Registry since September 1, owing to defects.On October 6, the Court issued a contempt of court notice to Chief Secretary KAP Sinha for misrepresenting facts about the filing of Punjab government's appeal. .A Division Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor today observed that the government’s conduct in the case was “very painful”.However, while considering the State’s argument that the Court cannot hear the applications alleging non-compliance of its directions, the bench referred the matter to a bench with contempt jurisdiction as per the roster. One of the applications alleges that court proceedings were being scandalized by various persons including the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Saurav Das. The bench said it is enjoined with the task of ensuring the majesty of the Court and would be careful in dealing with any suggestions questioning the propriety or conduct of proceedings. “We deem it appropriate to direct this matter to be placed before as per roster,” the Court directed. .In the order passed today, the Court also recorded that it had kept the applications pending after it was informed that the Punjab government has filed an SLP before the Supreme Court to challenge the DA case verdict. However, it noted that after the SLP remained in defects, it summoned the Chief Secretary. The Court added that the Chief Secretary on affidavit made an incorrect statement before the Court.However, after Senior Advocate Vikas Singh – who represented the Punjab government – argued that the matter should be placed before a court with contempt jurisdiction, the bench decided not to proceed any further in the case. Meanwhile, Singh submitted that there was no deliberate attempt on the Chief Secretary's part to make a false statement and he intends to offer an unconditional apology in case the court desires. Earlier this week, Singh had argued that the bench cannot hear the applications in the appeal already disposed of by it, especially when a contempt petition has been filed before a single-judge to allege non-implementation of the August 3 ruling..Senior Advocates Chetan Mittal and Sanjay Kaushal represented the applicants.