Chandigarh, Oct 6 The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Punjab Chief Secretary K A P Sinha, asking him why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for "willfully misleading" it regarding the state's appeal in a case pertaining to pending dearness allowance (DA) of employees and pensioners.
A bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor observed that the manner in which the state had chosen to proceed in the matter cannot be approved of.
The court asked the chief secretary to remain present on October 9, the next date of hearing.
The development came after the Supreme Court registry forwarded a report to the high court registry regarding the state government's appeal status.
It showed that several defects, including deficit court fee, unsigned 'vakalatnama' in Punjab government's appeal, and re-filing of appeal in the Supreme Court, have not been removed -- contradicting the stand of the Punjab chief secretary that defects in its appeal had been cured.
The court was hearing pleas related to non-compliance of the court's August 3 order of releasing DA and dearness relief dues to state employees and pensioners at the rates paid to the members of the All India Services (IAS/IPS/IFS) officers serving in the state.
The Punjab government had filed a special leave petition in Supreme Court on September 1 against the high court order.
The court on Tuesday said from the report of the Supreme Court registry, it is apparent that a false statement was made before the court on Monday.
"The fact that when the statement is made by the chief secretary on affidavit that the appeal has been re-filed, we expect that such senior person would ensure that an appeal correct in all respects would have been presented before the court, particularly when a month has expired since the filing of defective appeal.
"...the matter has been persistently adjourned by this court only to accommodate the State. The manner in which the State has chosen to proceed in the matter, therefore, cannot be approved of," the court said in its order.
The report of the Supreme Court registry categorically states that the re-filed appeal also contains numerous defects, the court noted, adding that the defects pointed out in the earlier appeal have also not been cured.
"Re-filing a defective appeal when almost a month has expired since filing of the defective appeal, prima facie, indicates that the attempt was only to misrepresent facts before this court," it said.
"From the materials placed on record, we prima facie, find that there is a deliberate misstatement of fact made by the chief secretary before this court.
"We therefore issue notice to the chief secretary, Punjab, to explain as to why proceedings of criminal contempt be not initiated against him for willfully misleading this court by making false assertions," the bench said.
On Monday, the court directed the high court registry to immediately get a report from the Supreme Court regarding the state government's appeal status.
On Monday, the bench pulled up Punjab government for playing "hide and seek" with the court.
The court also questioned the government's claim that defects in its appeal before the Supreme Court had been cured.
The state counsel on Monday insisted that the defects have been cured and the appeal before the Supreme Court was in order.
However, the petitioners emphatically denied the statement of the counsel.
On August 3, the court had directed Punjab government to release all up-to-date pending instalments of DA to all its employees and pensioners within a fortnight.
The court had further directed that 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 denial of dues to state employees.
In default of payment within the stipulated time, the unpaid amounts shall carry simple interest at the rate of six per cent per annum, the court had directed.
The petitioners moved the high court against the state government for not complying with the August 3 order.
During the previous hearing on September 10, the high court had noted that though the state government had filed the plea in the Supreme Court, defects in the same were not removed.
