Stories
DA case: HC issues show-cause notice to Punjab CS for misrepresenting facts
- •The Punjab and Haryana High Court issued a show-cause notice to Punjab Chief Secretary K A P Sinha over willfully misleading the court regarding a pending dearness allowance case.
- •A bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor directed the chief secretary to remain present in court on October 9.
- •A report from the Supreme Court registry revealed that the state's appeal contained multiple uncorrected defects, contradicting the chief secretary's affidavit.
- •The court noted that re-filing a defective appeal after a month prima facie indicates an attempt to misrepresent facts and avoid complying with the August 3 order to release DA dues.
Key Questions Answered
The High Court issued a show-cause notice to Punjab Chief Secretary K A P Sinha to explain why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for willfully misleading the court regarding the status of the state's appeal in the dearness allowance case, after a Supreme Court registry report exposed that the appeal remained heavily defective.
According to the Supreme Court registry report, the Punjab government's appeal contained several defects including a deficit court fee, an unsigned vakalatnama, and unresolved errors despite being re-filed after a month.
The High Court directed the Punjab government to release all up-to-date pending DA and dearness relief instalments to employees and pensioners at rates paid to All India Services officers within a fortnight, warning that unpaid amounts would carry a six percent annual interest and that the state must halt unproductive expenditures like large-scale advertising.
