Lucknow : The Lucknow bench of Allahabad HC 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 directing the refixation of pay, payment of salary arrears and release of revised pension benefits to govt employees.
Earlier, on Oct 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 govt. 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 Nov 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 the implementation of a judgment in the case of Suresh Chandra Verma. The bench noted that the 2022 order had been upheld in a special appeal and subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court on Jan 13, 2026. In that judgment, the court had directed the authorities to refix the petitioners’ salaries, pay outstanding arrears and release revised pension benefits. The petitioners contended that despite the passage of four years, the directions remained unimplemented. The state’s review petitions had also been dismissed.
The court had earlier rejected the state govt’s plea seeking additional time for compliance.