The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has framed contempt charges against UP PWD principal secretary Ajay Chauhan over non-compliance with salary-related orders. The case underscores prolonged delays in releasing refixed pay, arrears and revised pension benefits despite repeated judicial backing.
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Lucknow,Oct 13, 2026 22:26 IST
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday framed a contempt charge against Uttar Pradesh principal secretary, Public Works Department, Ajay Chauhan, over the alleged non-compliance of a four-year-old court order linked to the salaries of government employees.
The court also gave Chauhan and four other senior state government officers 15 days to respond to the contempt charges and directed them to appear at the next hearing on November 4. On October 5, the court had framed contempt charges against additional chief secretary, finance, Deepak Kumar, and principal secretaries Anurag Srivastava, Anil Garg and Saurabh Babu.
In its order passed on Tuesday, the single-judge bench of Justice Saurabh Lavania said its July 19, 2022 order had still not been complied with. The court observed, prima facie, that the officials did not appear willing to implement the writ court's directions.
The matter arises from 37 contempt petitions seeking implementation of a judgment in the case of Suresh Chandra Verma. In that judgment, the court had directed the authorities to refix the petitioners' salaries, pay the outstanding arrears and release revised pension benefits. It had also ordered payment of simple interest at 7 per cent if the benefits were not extended within four months.
The petitioners said that despite the passage of four years, the directions had not been implemented. The court had earlier rejected the state government's plea seeking more time for compliance.
The bench noted that the 2022 order had been upheld in a special appeal and was later affirmed by the Supreme Court on January 13, 2026. It also recorded that the state's review petitions had been dismissed, as the court continued proceedings on the contempt petitions over the pending implementation of salary, arrears and pension-related directions.
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