Punjab Chief Secretary Faces Contempt In DA Case; Deliberate Misstatement, Says High Court
Punjab Chief Secretary Faces Contempt In Punjab DA Case: Punjab and Haryana High Court issues notice to Chief Secretary KAP Sinha on why criminal contempt should not be initiated over a statement about defects in Punjab’s Supreme Court appeal in the DA case.
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, October 6
Punjab Chief Secretary Faces Contempt In Punjab DA Case: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to Punjab Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha asking him to explain why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for allegedly misleading the Court over the status of the Punjab government’s appeal before the Supreme Court in the pending dearness allowance (DA) case.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor passed the order on Tuesday after receiving a status report from the Supreme Court Registry which showed that defects in Punjab’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) had not been fully cured, contrary to what the Chief Secretary had stated in an affidavit before the High Court.
The High Court said it found, prima facie, that a deliberate misstatement of fact had been made.
“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,” the Bench said.
It added: “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 Chief Secretary has also been directed to remain personally present before the Court on the next date of hearing, October 9.
Punjab Chief Secretary Faces Contempt: Here’s What Happened
Punjab Chief Secretary Faces Contempt: The dispute relates to an earlier High Court judgment dated August 3, 2026, concerning payment of pending DA/DR instalments to Punjab government employees and pensioners.
The High Court had directed the State of Punjab and PSPCL to release all up-to-date pending DA/DR instalments to employees and pensioners at the rates applicable to members of the All India Services serving in Punjab, following the Central Government pattern.
The Court had given the State two weeks to make the payments. It also directed that unpaid amounts would carry simple interest at 6% per annum after expiry of the stipulated period.
The Chief Secretary was specifically directed to ensure compliance and file an affidavit by August 31.
However, according to Tuesday’s order, no such compliance affidavit had been filed by the Chief Secretary.
Punjab subsequently decided to challenge the August 3 judgment in the Supreme Court.
SLP filed, but defects remained
Punjab Chief Secretary Faces Contempt: The State filed its SLP before the Supreme Court on September 1, 2026. The appeal was assigned Diary No. 53830.
On October 5, when the matter came up before the High Court, the Chief Secretary relied on an affidavit stating that the defects in the SLP had been removed and that it had been re-filed.
The High Court, however, sought a status report directly from the Supreme Court Registry because the petitioners disputed the State’s claim.
The Supreme Court Registry’s report, reproduced in Tuesday’s order, told a different story.
According to the report, the SLP was filed on September 1 and 11 defects were notified to the Advocate-on-Record on September 3.
The matter was re-filed on October 1, but instead of filing only the corrected pages, all three volumes were re-filed. When the Supreme Court Registry checked the matter again on October 5, it found that the earlier defects had not all been cured.
Seven defects were again notified to the AOR on October 5.
Court: Re-filing defective appeal was not the same as curing defects
Punjab Chief Secretary Faces Contempt In Punjab DA Case: The High Court took particular exception to the distinction between re-filing the appeal and actually curing the defects.
The Bench said that when the Chief Secretary stated in his affidavit that the appeal had been re-filed, the impression conveyed was that the defects had been cured.
The Court observed that re-filing a defective appeal nearly a month after the original filing “prima facie indicates that the attempt was only to misrepresent the facts before this Court.”
The Bench also noted that it had repeatedly adjourned the matter to give Punjab an opportunity to pursue its legal remedy before the Supreme Court.
“We respect the right of the State to pursue its remedy of appeal,” the Court said earlier in the proceedings, but added that the right had to be exercised fairly and proceedings could not be adjourned indefinitely.
ALSO: As HC Orders Govt to Clear DA, Punjab Says Staff Already Get Higher Pay Than Central Employees
11 defects in Punjab’s SLP, seven in PSPCL’s
Punjab Chief Secretary Faces Contempt In Punjab DA Case: The order records that the Supreme Court Registry report showed 11 defects in Punjab’s SLP and seven defects in the SLP filed by PSPCL.
Among the defects listed against Punjab’s appeal were deficit court fee, issues concerning volumes and indexing, missing or incomplete details, discrepancies in the cause title, unsigned vakalatnama, missing documents and problems concerning copies and pages.
The Registry’s October 5 report specifically stated that defects numbered 1 and 12 to 17 remained to be cured.
The High Court recorded that the defects included a deficit court fee of ₹520, failure to file the August 3 judgment as required, an unsigned vakalatnama and other filing deficiencies.
DA dues remain at the heart of the dispute
Punjab Chief Secretary Faces Contempt In Punjab DA Case: The underlying case concerns the long-running dispute over DA/DR payments to Punjab government employees and pensioners.
In its August 3 judgment, the High Court had directed Punjab and PSPCL to release all pending instalments and said that the unpaid amounts would attract 6% annual simple interest after the deadline.
The Court had also directed that until the dues were cleared, Punjab should not resort to “any unproductive expenditures, such as large-scale advertising campaigns in print or social media”, saying such expenditure could not justify denial of dues payable to State employees.
The High Court has fixed the matter for October 9, 2026.
The Chief Secretary has been directed to remain personally present before the Court. The notice requires him to explain why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him.
The notice does not mean that the Chief Secretary has been found guilty of criminal contempt. The Court has made a prima facie finding and has sought his explanation before deciding what further action, if any, should follow.
The State’s senior counsel had argued that the Division Bench should not deal with the alleged disobedience because a separate contempt petition was already pending. The State also argued that the High Court had become functus officio after delivering its August 3 judgment.
ALSO: As HC Orders Govt to Clear DA, Punjab Says Staff Already Get Higher Pay Than Central Employees
Punjab High Court Rejects its ‘No Money’ Plea, Orders Full DA Payment by June 30
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