Punjab: High court to hear pensioners’ contempt plea in dearness allowance case on August 21

The bench of justice Harsh Bunger would hear the petition by Nirmal Singh Dhanoa and others demanding action against chief secretary KAP Sinha

The high court is set to take up on Friday a petition filed by four retired employees of Punjab alleging contempt of court by the state government by not releasing the dearness allowance (DA) as directed by the court.

The chief secretary was also asked to ensure scrupulous compliance and file an affidavit about it by August 31. (HT)

The bench of justice Harsh Bunger would hear the petition by Nirmal Singh Dhanoa and others demanding action against chief secretary KAP Sinha; additional chief secretary (finance) Alok Shekhar, chairman-cum-managing director, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, Basant Garg, and under secretary (finance) Saroj.

It was on August 3, a division bench of high court directed the Punjab government to release all pending DA installments to all its 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 within a fortnight. The court had also ordered that till all such dues are cleared, the government would 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, the unpaid amounts would carry 6% interest per annum. The chief secretary was also asked to ensure scrupulous compliance and file an affidavit about it by August 31.

The petition seeking action alleges wilful, deliberate and intentional violation of August 3 order by the respondents. “ the said period expired on 17.08.2026, instead of granting the benefits, respondent no. 4 (under secretary) issued a letter dated 17.08.2026 to all the secretaries stating therein that no such orders may be implemented without prior concurrence of the FD or unless generalized directions are issued, which is willful, deliberate, intentionally and knowingly violation of order passed by the high court,” the petition said.

It added that petitioners along with other employees and pensioner/employees unions visited the office of the respondents for the release of the benefits and also supplied the copy of the high court order for its implementation, requesting them to comply with the directions. However, the same has not been done