Punjab DA Case: High Court Refers Chief Secretary Contempt Case To Roster Bench, Says 'Majesty Of Court Can't Be Compromised'
The Punjab & Haryana High Court on Friday directed that the contempt case against Punjab Chief Secretary K.P. Sinha, arising from alleged non-compliance with its orders in the Dearness Allowance (DA) case, be placed before the bench having jurisdiction as per the roster.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor passed the order after the Court was apprised of the Chief Secretary's stand that there was no deliberate intention to make a false statement regarding removal of defects in the State Government's Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court.
Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing with Advocate General Maninderjit Singh Bedi, submitted that the Chief Secretary had no intention to mislead the Court and was willing to offer an unconditional apology, if the Court so desired.
The Bench however observed,
“This Court is enjoined with the task of ensuring that majesty of the court is not compromised in any way. Even suggestions questioning the propriety or conduct of proceedings have to be dealt with carefully.”
“In such circumstances,” the Court said, “we deem it appropriate to direct this matter to be placed before the court, having jurisdiction as per roster, to deal with such matters.”
The matter has been directed to be listed on October 12.
The proceedings arise from the State Government's alleged non-compliance with the High Court's directions concerning payment of pending DA to government employees.
In August, the High Court had dismissed a batch of Letters Patent Appeals filed by the Punjab Government and Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), affirming that once the State adopted the Central Government pattern for grant of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief, it incurred a binding obligation to release the accrued instalments and could not defer them indefinitely under the guise of financial constraint.
During the hearing, Senior advocates for the applicants Sanjay Kaushal and Chetan Mittal, submitted that the State's conduct was contemptuous and that an attempt had been made to scandalise the court's proceedings.
The Bench recalled that it had decided the letters patent appeal (LPA) on August 3 and adjourned the matter to August 31 for the filing of a compliance affidavit by the Chief Secretary. The affidavit had not been filed as directed, following which applications seeking contempt proceedings were moved.It also pointed that, the State informed it that an SLP had been filed before the Supreme Court on September 1. The High Court repeatedly adjourned the matter to give the State a reasonable opportunity to have its appeal heard.
However, a report obtained from the Supreme Court Registry showed that the appeals filed by the State and Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) continued to remain defective. However, the Chief Secretary had earlier filed an affidavit stating that the defects had been removed.
AG Punjab Maninderjit Singh Bedi submitted that the SLP was re-filed on October 01 and the Registry may subsequently have raised some objections.
However the Court had noted, "When the statement was made that appeal has been re-filed, what was intended to be conveyed to the Court was that defects in the filing of the appeal have been cured...re-fling a defective appeal when almost a month has expired since filing of the defective appeal prima facie indicates that attempt was only to misrepresent the facts before the Court."