HC frames contempt charges against Punjab director rural devp
The Punjab and Haryana high court has framed contempt of court charges against Punjab director rural development, Uma Shankar Gupta, in a case of delay in the promotion of an employee.
The high court bench of justice Harkesh Manuja while seeking a response from Gupta posted the matter for his response on May 22 while ordering that 'charges under Sections 10 and 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 are ordered to be framed against Mr Uma Shankar Gupta, IAS, Director, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Punjab.'
Section 10 deals with the power of HC to initiate contempt proceedings and Section 12 with punishment for the offence under the 1971 Act. If convicted, he may be fined up to ₹2,000 or jailed for six months or both.
The plea was from one Hardeep Singh, a panchayat secretary. He joined the post in 1994. In 2012, many of his colleagues especially those juniors to him were promoted. But his case was kept pending for want of a report from the vigilance department.
A petition was filed by him disputing the seniority list for promotion, which was disposed of in April 2024 by the court with a direction that he would approach the department and his representation would be decided within three months.
After the order was not complied with, he filed a contempt petition in January 2025, which was also disposed of on February 27 with the direction that he would appear before the department on March 3 with an undertaking that no enquiry was pending against him. The court also ordered that if needful is not done, a fine of ₹50,000 would be imposed on the officers concerned, which would be recovered from them.
When the order was still not complied with, another application was moved by the petitioner on April 2. The HC ordered the attachment of the salaries of concerned officers till the time of compliance. It was after this that the rural development department passed an order on May 13, granting the petitioner promotion from January 2025 and the court was informed on May 14.
Appalled by the department's promotion order, the court said that for the past 13 years, neither any report was obtained from the vigilance by the department nor even any letter/correspondence/complaint was ever sent by the vigilance against the petitioner still he has been promoted as panchayat officer with effect from January 2025.
'… (the order) is wholly arbitrary, discriminatory and selective especially, when there is no fault on the part of the petitioner towards the delay for consideration of his promotion as the said process was kept in abeyance only for the reasons that his record was not traceable in the department,' the court said while framing charges under contempt of court Act against Gupta.
The court further added that for the past 13 years, the department has not been able to fix the responsibility of any of the officials about the non-availability of the petitioner's service record and still he has not been given benefit with effect from when he was eligible.
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