The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has framed contempt charges against four senior Uttar Pradesh government officials for failing to implement a July 2022 judicial order concerning employee pay revision, salary arrears, and revised pension disbursements. A single bench of Justice Saurabh Lavania directed Additional Chief Secretary for Finance Deepak Kumar, Principal Secretary for Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply Anurag Srivastava, Principal Secretary for Irrigation Anil Garg, and Principal Secretary for Rural Engineering Saurabh Babu to submit their responses within a week and remain personally present during the next hearing scheduled for October 13.
Failure to Show Proof of Compliance
The court issued the directions on October 5 while hearing 37 contempt petitions filed in connection with the judgment delivered in the Suresh Chandra Verma case. Justice Lavania observed that the administration had failed to present any records demonstrating even partial compliance with the July 19, 2022 ruling. Taking a critical view of the delay, the bench observed that the officials prima facie appeared unwilling to carry out the writ court’s directives.
Under the original 2022 ruling, the state authorities were instructed to revise the pay structures of employees across multiple departments, calculate and release the resulting salary arrears, and ensure the disbursement of revised pensions. The high court had prescribed a four-month deadline to execute the benefits, stipulating that a failure to do so would entitle the employees to simple interest at seven per cent. Petitioners submitted that despite nearly four years passing since the judgment, the benefits had still not been delivered.
Rejection of State Plea for More Time
During the proceedings, state counsel sought additional time to comply with the earlier order, but the bench rejected the request. The court highlighted that an assurance had already been given by the Advocate General on May 22, 2026, stating that the order would be executed within eight weeks.
Despite that undertaking, the government failed to place any concrete documents before the court during the October 5 hearing to demonstrate that the affected employees had received their financial dues. With the status of implementation remaining unverified, the bench framed contempt charges against the four senior officers present in court and granted them one week to file their formal replies.
Decision on PWD Head Deferred to October 13
The court did not frame charges against Additional Chief Secretary for the Public Works Department Ajay Chauhan. A decision regarding Chauhan was deferred until the next date of hearing, when the bench will examine the available department records and the status of compliance before proceeding further.
The contempt proceedings will now examine the written submissions and documentary records filed by the four senior bureaucrats. During the October 13 hearing, the high court will evaluate the ground-level implementation of its pay revision directives and decide on the subsequent course of judicial action.
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