Chandigarh, October 17
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has sentenced a Punjab Government official to a month’s simple imprisonment for committing contempt of court by filing false and misleading affidavits in a doctors’ recruitment case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the official.

Holding Nawanshahr Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Amarjit Paul guilty of contempt, Justice Mahesh Grover asked him to deposit the fine with the High Court’s Mediation and Conciliation Centre within a week.

Justice Grover initially directed to take the contemner in custody and lodge him in jail to serve his sentence, but later suspended the sentence for two weeks after accepting the ADC’s prayer.

The order came on a petition filed by one Simmi against the state of Punjab and other respondents through advocates DS Patwalia and Salil Sabhlok. She was seeking appointment as a rural medical officer.

Justice Grover said divergent stands surfaced in affidavits filed by the official earlier in the court after which an opportunity was given to him to clarify discrepancies. But the affidavit filed in response “only confounds the situation”, he said.

“Evidently, the officer has shown a complete disregard to the proceedings of the court and is repeatedly filing false affidavits to obstruct the course of justice. On the previous date of hearing, the court had imposed cost upon the official for wasting its time by filing an affidavit which was not in conformity with law,” Justice Grover said.

“This should have been a sufficient warning to the official that he cannot treat the proceedings of the court so lightly, but instead of learning from the previous orders passed by the court, he has chosen to show utter disregard to the process of law,” said Justice Grover.

“The Court thus finds him guilty of contempt. Filing misleading affidavits is obstructionist to the cause of justice besides being contempt in the face of the court. The court has asked the officer, Amarjit Paul, to explain if he has anything to say in his defence, but he has no substantive explanation to offer. Consequently, the court deems it appropriate to proceed against the official under the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act. The court pronounces him guilty of contempt of court, said Justice Grover. The case will come up for hearing in January next year.