Punjab Chief Secretary fined by High Court over unpaid allowance arrears

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha for failing to comply with court orders regarding the release of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) arrears to government employees and pensioners.

Justice Harsh Bunger directed the Chief Secretary to submit a personal affidavit explaining the non-compliance and to appear in person at the next hearing on November 3. The court expressed displeasure over the state government’s failure to implement previous directions and questioned why benefits were being withheld from employees while senior officials continued to receive dues.

The dispute stems from the state's failure to match the Central Government's DA pattern, which had reached 60 per cent while the state's rate remained at 42 per cent. A previous ruling affirmed that once the state adopted the Central Government pattern, it was obligated to release accrued instalments and could not indefinitely defer them due to financial constraints.