Just over two months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed Punjab to file a compliance report on the release of dearness allowance and dearness relief to its employees and pensioners, a Division Bench on Friday directed that the matters concerning alleged non-compliance with its orders be placed before the Bench hearing contempt matters in accordance with the roster.The matters include proceedings initiated against the Chief Secretary after the Bench prima facie found a deliberate misstatement of fact made by him before the court. He was, thereafter, asked to explain why proceedings of criminal contempt should not be initiated against him for wilfully misleading the court by making false assertions.Another application was also placed before the court alleging that persons holding various posts in the ruling party in Punjab tweeted and retweeted a post by Saurav Das –– co-convener of the Cockroach Janta Party –– in an attempt to “scandalise and politicise” the court’s decision.The application, filed through counsel Gagneshwar Walia and Hargun Sethi and argued by senior advocate Chetan Mittal, had sought appropriate action.The matter is now scheduled to be taken up by the Bench of Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj and Justice Ravinder Malik on Monday.


