India, Nov. 5 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed criminal contempt proceedings initiated by the Punjab and Haryana High Court against Punjab chief secretary KAP Sinha over the state government's failure to comply with its directions on payment of pending dearness allowance (DA) arrears to employees and pensioners, questioning the need to send the top bureaucrat to jail over the dispute.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan passed the order after senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the additional chief secretary and the state government, informed the court that Sinha was being hauled up for criminal contempt by the high court in a matter that had already been disposed of.

"Why are you interested in sending the ch...