High Court Penalises Punjab Chief Secretary in DA Matter
In a sharp order in the dearness allowance (DA) case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the Punjab Chief Secretary and directed him to appear in person on November 3.
Hearing both sides, the court held that its earlier orders had not been obeyed and imposed the penalty accordingly. The bench has further required the Chief Secretary to file a personal affidavit explaining the reasons for non-implementation of the court's directions.
The matter will be heard next on November 3, and the Chief Secretary has been asked to be present before the court personally. The development comes after the Punjab government's special leave petition, filed in the Supreme Court, had remained stuck in the defect list for more than two months.
Background of the DA case
The Punjab DA case is a high-profile dispute before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It arises from the state government's failure to clear pending dearness allowance and dearness relief arrears owed to employees and pensioners.
Related bail ruling in money laundering case
Earlier, on October 16, the High Court refused regular bail to Sanjeev Arora, a Punjab cabinet minister and AAP leader, in a money laundering matter. The order was pronounced in open court by Justice Kuldeep Tiwari.
Arora had approached the High Court after the Gurugram special court dismissed his regular bail application on June 15. He had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 9 in a case involving financial irregularities and GST fraud.
At the centre of the case is Hampton Sky Realty Limited (HSRL), a company Arora once headed. The investigation is focused on Rs 102.5 crore in transactions connected to mobile phone exports and alleged GST fraud.
Defence arguments in the bail plea
Arora's plea stated that he had been the promoter and chairman of HSRL but had stepped back from its daily operations on becoming a cabinet minister. The former Rajya Sabha member said he remains a serving minister with deep community ties and a spotless public life.
He challenged the ED's allegations and maintained that the mobile phone export transactions were part of genuine commercial activity. According to him, invoices, GST records, customs documents and banking records corroborate these dealings. His side also said nothing incriminating was found during searches of his residence, his son's residence and company premises.
The defence argued that the case is based on documents already with the investigating agency, so there was no realistic risk of tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses.
The ED's probe centres on alleged irregularities in the export of mobile phones to buyers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and on allegedly fake claims for GST refunds.