Chandigarh, Aug 18 (IANS) Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Kewal Singh Dhillon said on Tuesday that instead of complying with the 15-day deadline of the Punjab and Haryana High Court for clearing the pending dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) dues of government employees and pensioners, the Punjab government “is attempting to put an administrative roadblock”.
He added that the Finance Department’s letter dated August 17, directing all Administrative Departments not to implement orders arising from the High Court’s judgment in civil writ petition of 2026 without concurrence of it “amounts to introducing a condition that does not form part of the court’s judicial mandate”.
He also said that such an administrative instruction cannot override, dilute, delay or postpone a command issued by a constitutional court.
“The Executive cannot sit in appeal over a judicial direction or create an additional layer of administrative approval before complying with it,” Dhillon said in a statement.
“More importantly, where the court has directed “scrupulous compliance”, there is no scope for the state government to reconsider, qualify or selectively implement the judicial mandate through an internal departmental circular,” he said.
Dhillon added that this non-compliance “makes it crystal clear that the AAP government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is not only anti-employee and anti-pensioner, but also has scant regard for the orders of the High Court”.
“(Chief Minister) Bhagwant Mann and Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema must understand that government employees are not asking for a favour, subsidy or political gift. They are demanding money that is legally and legitimately due to them.”
“The question is simple: if the Punjab Government can spend money on publicity, advertisements and political branding, why can it not pay the DA and DA arrears that employees have already earned?” Dhillon asked.
“This is the real face of the AAP government — promises before elections, publicity after elections and excuses when it comes to paying the people of Punjab. The government cannot hide behind financial constraints to deny employees and pensioners their legitimate dues.”
The State BJP Chief said the state government must stop treating court orders as political suggestions.
“A court order is not optional. The government must obey it, fully, immediately and in letter and spirit,” he added.
–IANS
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