The high court on Friday pulled up the Punjab government for failing to get appeals listed against the August 3 dearness allowance (DA) release order and asserted that while it is up to the state to take its financial decisions, statutory obligations cannot be made subject to a populist agenda.
“You may put up your hoarding on the moon or Mars, we are not concerned. But we have no doubt in our mind that so far as the fiscal priorities are concerned, that is the domain of the executive and the political leadership,” a bench of justice Vinod S Bhardwaj and justice Ravinder Malik orally remarked while hearing a criminal contempt case against Punjab chief secretary KAP Sinha.
The court’s observations came in response to the Punjab government counsel alleging that applicants (pensioners and employees) are trying to make a political issue out of the case as the state is headed for the polls soon. The issue of freebies and advertisements has been dealt with by the Supreme Court.
“If governments are not able to disclose to the people the good work they are doing, they can’t remain in power. If they can’t remain in power, they can’t do the good work. So, it is not a small question,” senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the Punjab government submitted on allegations from petitioners that government is issuing advertisements despite court orders but not complying to an order on DA release passed by the high court.
Contempt proceedings genesis
{{/usCountry}}Contempt proceedings genesis
{{/usCountry}}The contempt proceedings against the chief secretary stems from the August 3 high court order. In that ruling, the court ordered the state to release all pending DA instalments to employees and pensioners on a par with central government rates paid to All India Services (IAS/IPS/IFS) officers within a fortnight. The court also barred the state from indulging in “unproductive expenditures”, such as large-scale print or social media ad campaigns, until all dues were settled, directing the chief secretary to file a compliance affidavit by August 31.
The government failed to meet the deadline and filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on September 1. Two months on, the apex court is yet to hear the matter because the state has not rectified defects flagged by the top court’s registry.
Contempt proceedings against Sinha were initiated over his claim that after curing all defects, a fresh appeal has been filed—a statement proved wrong by the records of the Supreme Court registry.
During the hearing on Friday senior advocates Sanjay Kaushal and Chetan Mittal, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the state’s appeals in the matter are still pending due to defects, while it managed to get another appeal listed in 24 hours where the high court had ordered a CBI probe in the state officers’ case.
The court said that the state’s conduct in the case in hand does not “inspire confidence” as it failed to take steps for listing the matter in the apex court.
“When you go through the sequence of events, there is hardly a valid reason for non-listing of the SLP. It seems a deliberate designed effort to ensure that the SLP is not listed at all, considering the fact that you have been successful in getting other SLPs listed before Supreme Court at a short notice of 24 hours,” the bench remarked.
‘Does Punjab govt even have ₹520 right now’
One of the defects pointed out by the Supreme Court registry is the non-payment of the requisite ₹520 fee before admitting the case for hearing.
“ ₹520 hai abhi Punjab sarkar ke pass (Does Punjab government even have ₹520 right now)?” the bench orally said adding that it wondered whether the government would argue that even non-payment of ₹520 was on account of fiscal deficit.
Now, the matter has been adjourned for November 5 asking the chief secretary to file a detailed affidavit regarding the issues raised in contempt proceedings against him and sought his presence. Detailed order is awaited