Himachal HC issues bailable warrants against officials of IPH department

The Himachal Pradesh high court on Friday issued bailable warrants against principal secretary, engineer-in-chief, superintending engineer (Shimla circle) and executive engineer (Sunni division) of the irrigation and public health department with an amount of ₹25,000 each to the satisfaction of the arresting officer.

Justice Vivek Singh Thakur passed these orders on a contempt petition filed by one Govind Singh for violation of the orders issued on April 23, 2019, passed by the Tribunal, as per which the respondent IPH department was directed to allow him to serve upto the age of 60 years. The petitioner has prayed to direct the respondents to release his salary till date along with 12% interest.

After abolition of the erstwhile Tribunal, the petition was transferred to the high court. Despite several opportunities granted to the respondents to file response/compliance affidavit, the same was not filed. The respondents were directed to appear in person on September 10 in the court, in case of failure to file the compliance affidavit. However, they neither filed the response nor appeared in person. Also, nothing was on record on their behalf for exemption from presence in the court.

The court observed that in the aforesaid circumstances, it has no other option except to issue bailable warrants for securing the presence of the respondents along with record, enabling the court to proceed further.