Lucknow, Oct 13 The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday framed a contempt charge against UP principal secretary (Public Works Department) Ajay Chauhan for allegedly failing to comply with a four-year-old court order concerning salaries of government employees.
Earlier, on October 5, the court had framed contempt charges against additional chief secretary (finance) Deepak Kumar and principal secretaries Anurag Srivastava, Anil Garg and Saurabh Babu, who head various departments of the state government.
A single-judge bench of Justice Saurabh Lavania granted all five officers 15 days to respond to the contempt charges and directed them to remain present at the next hearing on November 4.
In its order passed on Tuesday, the court reiterated that its July 19, 2022, order had not been complied with. It observed prima facie that the officials did not appear willing to implement the writ court’s directions.
The proceedings arose from 37 contempt petitions seeking implementation of a judgment in the case of Suresh Chandra Verma.
In that judgment, the court had directed the authorities to refix the petitioners’ salaries, pay outstanding arrears and release revised pension benefits. It had also ordered payment of simple interest at 7 per cent if the benefits were not extended within four months.
The petitioners contended that despite the passage of four years, the directions remained unimplemented. The court had earlier rejected the state government’s plea seeking additional time for compliance.
The bench noted that the 2022 order had been upheld in a special appeal and subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court on January 13, 2026.
The state’s review petitions had also been dismissed.
(PTI News)
