A criminal contempt petition has been filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court against Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convener and spokesperson Saurav Das over a social media post concerning a recent judgment of the court. The petition was filed by Nitin Garg, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Punjab unit State general secretary, who has alleged that Das’s post scandalised the judgment delivered by the High Court on August 3.

According to the petition, Das criticised the judgment in a post shared on August 20 and alleged that then Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra had “violated the roster” by withdrawing a politically sensitive matter from another bench. Das reportedly described the other bench as independent and questioned the manner in which the matter was reassigned. The allegations form the basis of the contempt proceedings initiated against him.

The judgment referred to in the petition was delivered by a bench comprising Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor. On August 3, the bench directed the Punjab government to clear pending dearness allowance (DA) dues of government employees and pensioners within two weeks. Justice Mishra was serving as the Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court at the time of the judgment.

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The court also issued directions concerning government expenditure until the pending DA dues were cleared. It said the government should not resort to what it described as unproductive expenditure, including large-scale advertising campaigns in print or on social media, while employees and pensioners remained unpaid. The court observed that such expenditure could not justify denying dues that were legally admissible to State employees.

The August 3 order further stated that unpaid amounts would carry interest at the rate of 6% per annum in the event of default. The judgment therefore dealt with the payment of pending financial dues to government employees and pensioners as well as restrictions on certain government spending until those obligations were met.

The contempt petition now places Das’s social media comments before the same High Court for consideration. The petitioner has alleged that the remarks amounted to criticism capable of scandalising the judgment and questioned the conduct of the Chief Justice in relation to the roster. The filing does not by itself establish the allegations, and the court will determine the matter in accordance with the applicable contempt proceedings.

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