The Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notice to Chief Secretary K A P Sinha after finding a prima facie discrepancy between his statement on the state government's Supreme Court appeal and the registry report on pending defects.

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 making a "prima facie false statement" in a case pertaining to the pending dearness allowance of employees and pensioners.A bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Rohit Kapoor also asked the CS to remain present on Friday, which is the next date of hearing.

The development came following a report by the high court registry from the Supreme Court registry regarding the state government's appeal status. It showed that defects in the Punjab government's appeal in the Supreme Court have not been removed, which contradicted the stand of the Punjab CS that defects in its appeal have been cured.
Petitioners' counsel Sunny Singla said the high court issued a notice to the Punjab chief secretary, asking why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for giving a "false statement". Singla further said the court took note of the report that defects in the Punjab's government's appeal have not been removed.
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.
The court was hearing pleas related to the 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 on the Central government pattern.
The state of Punjab had filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court on September 1 against the high court order, contending that the direction to pay arrears totalling around Rs 14,191 crore in such a short period was constitutionally impossible. On Monday, the bench rapped the Punjab government for playing 'hide and seek' with the court.
The court had questioned the government's claim that defects in its appeal before the Supreme Court has been cured. "We are at our wits' end to comprehend as to what is actually intended by the State of Punjab by playing hide and seek with the court. If the appeal had already been filed on September 1 before the Supreme Court, it could have been got heard by now. It appears that the attempt is only to buy time in the garb of pursuing a legal remedy before the Supreme Court," the court had observed on Monday.
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 the 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 the denial of dues admissible to state employees.
In default of payment within the time aforesaid, the unpaid amounts shall carry simple interest at the rate of six per cent per annum, the court had then 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 but defects in the same were not removed.


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