In a significant development in the DA arrears case, Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha (IAS:1992:PB) has invited punishment for not complying with the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s instructions to pay Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears to government employees and pensioners within stipulated time limit. The court has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him, besides asking him to appear before it in person on November 3 to explain the actions taken to comply with its earlier orders.
The court voiced displeasure over the Punjab govt’s failure to submit its response in the matter.
Justice Harsh Bunger also directed Sinha to submit a personal affidavit explaining why its earlier orders were not implemented. Sinha has also been asked to file a reply specifying a timeline for complete compliance with the court’s directions.
The court also objected to the state govt’s apparent disparity in the treatment meted out to employees and senior officials, asking how senior officials continued to receive their dues, while employees’ dues were withheld.
The High Court had initiated contempt proceedings against the CS following the state govt‘s failure to comply with its directions to pay all pending DA arrears to govt employees and pensioners within 15 days.
The court had directed the Chief Secretary to file a compliance affidavit, but it was not filed, following which applications seeking contempt proceedings were moved.
In the meantime, the state govt moved a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the High Court order on September 1. But some defects were detected in the SLP. The High Court then directed the govt to remove those defects.
Later a report obtained from the Supreme Court Registry showed that the defects remained unremoved.
However, the CS had earlier filed an affidavit stating that the defects had been removed.
The counsel representing the employees informed the court that the state’s SLP had remained on the Supreme Court’s defect list for more than two months.
Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor had observed that giving a ‘false statement’ prima facie indicated that attempt was only to misrepresent the facts before the court.
The development shows the Punjab govt’s handling of the case in poor light under renewed judicial scrutiny.
In this background, the November 3 hearing is expected to be significant.
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