The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday framed a contempt charge against Uttar Pradesh public works department principal secretary Ajay Chauhan for allegedly failing to comply with a court order passed four years ago regarding the salaries and benefits of government employees.The development follows the court’s October 5 decision to frame contempt charges against additional chief secretary (Finance) Deepak Kumar and three other principal secretaries — Anurag Srivastava, Anil Garg and Saurabh Babu — who head different state government departments.A single-judge bench of Justice Saurabh Lavania gave all five officers 15 days to submit their responses to the contempt charges. The court also directed them to appear in person at the next hearing, scheduled for November 4.In its order on Tuesday, the court reiterated that its July 19, 2022, directions remained unimplemented. It observed, prima facie, that the officials did not appear willing to comply with the directions issued by the writ court.
Case arises from 37 contempt petitions
The proceedings stem from 37 contempt petitions seeking enforcement of a judgment delivered in the case of Suresh Chandra Verma.Under the earlier judgment, the court had directed the authorities to revise the petitioners’ salaries, clear pending arrears and release their revised pension benefits. It had also ordered the payment of simple interest at 7% if the benefits were not granted within four months.The petitioners argued that the authorities had failed to implement the directions despite the passage of four years. The court had previously rejected the state government’s request for additional time to comply with the order, according to news agency PTI.
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Supreme Court had upheld earlier order
The bench noted that the July 2022 order had been upheld in a special appeal and subsequently affirmed by the supreme court on January 13, 2026.The state government’s review petitions challenging the order were also dismissed, the court observed.The matter will next be heard on November 4, when the five officials are required to appear before the court and respond to the contempt charges.