HC Pulls Up DGHS Haryana for contempt, charges filed

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has framed contempt charges against the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), Haryana, Manish Bansal, for defying a Court order directing to consider the issue of the pay scale of two lab technicians. 

While framing charges under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, the High Court bench of Justice Harkesh Manuja observed, "...In fact the deliberate conduct and the obstructive behaviour of respondent being aimed at frustrating the real intent of the relief granted by the writ court, amounts to circumventing and manipulating the course of proceedings thereby resulting into its defiance so as to make the order ineffective."

The DGHS has been charged under Sections 10 (power of HC to initiate contempt proceedings) and 12 (punishment for the offence) of the 1971 Act. If the HC finds him guilty, he may have to pay a fine up to Rs 2,000 or be jailed for six months, or he may be awarded both punishments.

DGHS Bansal was present in the Court when the order was passed on April 4. The HC bench has listed the matter for further hearing on April 23.

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As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, the counsel for the petitioners, Suman Verma and Busan Lal, both lab technicians, submitted that in April 2024, the High Court had directed to consider their case pertaining to their pay scales and disposed of the plea. However, as the matter was kept pending, they moved a contempt plea in August 2024.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court dismissed the State's appeal against a 2022 HC order on the issue of the pay scale of these categories of employees. However, even then, the order was not complied with.

The petitioner's counsels submitted that the DGHS had to comply with the HC order through the finance department of Haryana. Taking note of the issue, the HC bench observed, "The present is a clear-cut case where the respondents are acting in a highly discriminatory, arbitrary and selective manner and thereby, showing willful disrespect and disobedience towards the court order."

Further, the bench noted that the petitioners had to be granted the benefit of pay parity in terms of one Rajesh Kumar's case which was decided in 2022 since the cases were identical. However, the authorities failed to do so even as the petitioners had filed pleas themselves as well. It should be mentioned that one of the petitioners, Suman Verma, is a person with disabilities.

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