Shimla, Sept. 6 -- The Himachal Pradesh High Court has deferred to September 22 the hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the six-month extension granted to Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena, while also allowing the state government to redirect a previously imposed fine of Rs 5 lakh towards a High Court-administered disaster relief fund.

A division bench of Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma is examining whether the March 28 order granting Saxena an extension was in violation of Central Service Rules and Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) guidelines.

The Union of India, in its reply, confirmed that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had sought a one-year extension, citing Saxena's role in k...