Chandigarh, Aug. 22 -- The Punjab government on Friday sought time from the Punjab and Haryana high court to file a compliance report in respect of the August 3 order on release of the Dearness Allowance (DA) within a fortnight to the employees and pensioners of the state. The request was made before the bench of justice Harsh Bunger, hearing a petition filed by four retired employees of Punjab alleging contempt of court by the state government by not releasing DA within the deadline set by the high court. On August 3, a division bench of high court had directed the Punjab government to release all up-to-date pending instalments of DA, estimated at over Rs.14,000 crore, to all its employees and pensioners at the rates paid to the members of the All India Services (IAS/IPS/IFS) officers serving in the state on the central government pattern within a fortnight. The court had also ordered that till all such dues were cleared, the government would not "resort to any unproductive expenditures", such as large-scale advertising campaigns in print or social media, as these expenses cannot justify the denial of dues admissible to state employees. In case of default, the unpaid amounts would carry 6% interest per annum. The chief secretary was also asked to ensure scrupulous compliance and file an affidavit about it by August 31. During the hearing on Friday, the state's counsel claimed that as per the high court order, the government had time till August 31 to comply with the order and file a compliance report. Hence, the government be given time for the same. Taking note of the submissions, the court deferred the hearing to September 27 while recording, "Learned state counsel seeks short accommodation to file status report and/or the compliance report in the matter." The petition by Nirmal Singh Dhanoa and others had demanded action against chief secretary KAP Sinha, additional chief secretary (finance) Alok Shekhar; Punjab State Power Corporation Limited chairman-cum-managing director Basant Garg and under secretary (finance) Saroj for violating the court order....