The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday told Punjab to promptly pursue its challenge before the Supreme Court against the High Court’s directions on payment of pending dearness allowance (DA), making it clear that the State could not keep the High Court’s directions in limbo while its Special Leave Petition (SLP) remained in defects.The Bench also asked the State to come clean before the Court. “Don’t try to play. Don’t try to hoodwink the Court. Do not try to play games with the Court. You have a right of appeal. Please pursue that right,” the Bench observed.The Bench was hearing applications relating to alleged non-compliance with the High Court’s August 3 judgment directing Punjab and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to release all up-to-date pending DA/DR instalments at the Central Government rates.At the onset, the State counsel submitted that the government was in the process of removing defects in its challenge before the Supreme Court and referred to the 90-day limitation period for filing an appeal. The Bench, however, made it clear that the State’s right to challenge the judgment was not in question.“What you are doing, we don’t want to say anything. But please get your appeal heard by next week, or otherwise, make a mention that you have already filed it. We would respect. You have all the right to challenge the order, but it cannot remain like this that you will not pursue the matter there. All these kind of tactics we also understand,” the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor asserted.The Court also questioned why the State was yet to get its appeal heard when the Bench had already been informed on an earlier occasion that the matter was lying in defects.“Get your appeal heard. We’re adjourning it by a week. Otherwise, whatever arguments are to come from their side or your objections, we will deal with it. But at the first instance, we do recognize that every person aggrieved by our judgment has a right of appeal. So please do it. Don’t do it like this. Last time also we were informed that it’s lying in defect. Why can’t you get the defects removed?” the Chief Justice questioned.The Bench reiterated it was there to respect the rights of a litigant to file an appeal. “Please do that. Whatever remedy is available to you, please exhausted it”, the court observed.The State counsel, in response, raised the issue of possible multiplicity of litigation, pointing out that the original petitioners had already initiated contempt proceedings before the regular Bench in relation to alleged non-compliance with the August 3 judgment.Appearing before the Bench for the applicants, senior advocate Chetan Mittal on the other hand submitted the compliance by the State was to be placed before the Bench in the form of an affidavit.“Whatever compliance they have to do has to come on affidavit…. That we have filed the SLP and that it is likely to be listed, they have to state in affidavit,” Mittal asserted.What the August 3 judgment heldThe dispute relates to a common judgment passed on April 8 directing the Punjab Government to release Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) to its employees and pensioners at the same rates as paid to members of the All India Services serving in Punjab, in accordance with the Central Government pattern.The judgment had directed compliance by June 30 and required the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit regarding compliance, following which appeals were filed in the matter.The judgment of August 3 was delivered by the Division Bench, comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor.The Bench dismissed the appeals filed by the State and PSPCL and affirmed the Single Judge’s directions, while modifying the timeline for implementation because the original June 30 deadline had already expired during the pendency of the appeals. The Bench directed release of the pending DA/DR instalments within a fortnight.