Chandigarh, Sept. 22 -- The high court on Tuesday asked the Punjab chief secretary to remain present on October 5 over "prime facie failure" of the government to comply with its directions to release the dearness allowance (DA) within a fortnight.

The order was passed by the bench of chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Rohit Kapoor on a clutch of applications moved by the employees and pensioners alleging non-compliance of high court directions. Detailed order is awaited.

On August 3, the high court had directed the Punjab government to release all pending DA instalments to all its employees and pensioners at the rate/s paid to the members of the All India Services (IAS/IPS/IFS) officers serving in the state on the central go...