Chandigarh, Oct. 6 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday pulled up the Punjab government for "attempting to buy time" by not properly pursuing an appeal against its August 3 order directing payment of pending dearness allowance (DA) dues to state government employees and pensioners within a fortnight, and sought an immediate status report from the Supreme Court registry on the appeal.

The bench of chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Rohit Kapoor sought the report after noting that the state's appeal, filed on September 1, appeared to be lying under defects for more than a month. The court also directed the state's chief secretary, KAP Sinha, to remain present when the matter comes up again on Tuesday.

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