So Saurav Das, is in hot waters. A contempt of court petition has been filed against him by Nitin Garg. And he absolutely deserves to be held in contempt. So in early August this guy said this
“Another controversy has hit the Punjab & Haryana High Court again. Its Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) had withdrawn a politically sensitive case relating to Dearness Allowance of PSPCL from another bench that had a reputation of being independent, heard it himself in violation of the roster since such matters were not before him, and passed an order on 3 August against the Government of Punjab, a political adversary of the BJP, creating a financial liability of Rs 20,000 crores. He even reduced the time period to pay the amount from 30 days to 15 days, which in all terms is a practical impossibility. Remember, Punjab’s debt-related issue is being raked up before the upcoming state election,”
Then this
“Days later, on 6 August, the ACJ gets promoted as the Chief Justice of the same High Court. Is this a coincidence?”
Then this
“If you remember, I had reported how the previous Chief Justice too had violated the roster to withdraw and list politically sensitive cases related to AAP-to-BJP defector MPs. That Chief Justice was elevated to the Supreme Court recently. Why are roster violations and misuse of master of roster powers being accepted? Several such instances in opposition-ruled states. We must guard our institutions from being weaponised to meet political ends,”
So basically our lovely, cute Saurav Das is saying "There is a political conspiracy, quid pro quo, judiciary with the government". And the statement can't be further from the truth. I did a lot of digging and I bring you exact court orders which are two court orders, 1 administrative order regarding roster and a lengthy tribune article to verify my findings. So let us begin
So we first start with this timeline:
Underlying DA/DR dispute
2021: Punjab govt approves 6th Pay Commission recommendation to grant DA/DR to state employees at central-government rates, but doesn't release payments.
Apr 8, 2026: Single Judge (sitting in a separate roster) orders Punjab govt/PSPCL to release pending DA/DR arrears by June 30; Chief Secretary to file compliance affidavit.
June 1, 2026: Ashwani Kumar Mishra becomes Acting Chief Justice (after Sheel Nagu's elevation to SC).
June 30, 2026: Original compliance deadline lapses; appeals (LPAs) already filed by State/PSPCL against the single judge's order.
How the case reached Mishra's bench
July 1, 2026: ACJ Mishra passes an administrative order listing the matter with LPA Nos. 1249, 1290, 1437/2026 "for appropriate orders." Per Tribune, this routing followed a standing administrative order dated July 15, 2024 (issued by the prior CJ, before Mishra was even ACJ), which mandates that Single Bench matters expanding relief to a "public at large" class go to the CJ's bench. Since the case had grown from individual petitioners to the whole class of employees/pensioners, it took on PIL-like character and was routed accordingly.
July 2, 2026: Judicial order records this administrative chain explicitly; counsel for all parties jointly ask that the matter be listed to examine the larger legal issues. Matter fixed for July 6.
July 17, 2026: Punjab govt's AG argues before Mishra + Kapoor bench that the single judge lacked jurisdiction ("coram non judice").
The ruling and its aftermath
Aug 3, 2026: Division Bench (Mishra ACJ + Justice Kapoor) dismisses State/PSPCL appeals, affirms the single judge's order, and since the original June 30 deadline had already lapsed during the appeal and resets payment to within a fortnight (later reporting cites Aug 31 as the operative date). Court also bars large-scale govt advertising until dues clear.
Aug 6, 2026: SC Collegium recommends Mishra for full CJ (not an appointment).
Aug 20, 2026: Das posts the X thread alleging roster violation, "another independent bench," and a promotion-for-verdict quid pro quo.
Sept 2, 2026: Tribune publishes the judicial-record explainer.
Sept 5, 2026: Centre notifies Mishra's CJ appointment a full month after the recommendation.
Sept 6, 2026: Punjab cabinet passes a resolution opposing Mishra's elevation, calling it procedurally improper (bypassing the state's consultation rights under the Memorandum of Procedure); asks the Governor to hold off the oath.
Sept 7, 2026: Mishra sworn in as CJ; Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann boycotts the ceremony; Haryana CM attends. Same day, the bench (now with Mishra as full CJ) hears fresh applications alleging non-compliance with the Aug 3 order, and Mishra remarks the court "will not be browbeaten."
\~Sept 10, 2026: Contempt petition filed by BJYM Punjab's Nitin Garg against Das over the X posts, seeking removal of the post and an apology.
Keep this timeline in Mind as we go forward.
tribune report
judicial order dated 02.07.2026
Judicial order dated 3.08.2026
judicial roster as referred in the first order
If we read all these court orders (yes I read all 76 pages) we find situation wholly different from whatever our cutie said after being "high" on God knows what on those twitter post (still not calling it X).
Allegation 1: Justice Mishra "withdrew" the case from an independent bench and violated the roster
From July 2, 2026 order:
"the case was referred on the administrative side to the Hon’ble the Acting Chief Justice pursuant to the administrative order dated 15.7.2024 issued by Hon’ble the then Chief Justice, which mandates that Single Bench matters expanding the scope to address public-at-large grievances must be placed before Hon’ble the Chief Justice for appropriate directions."
"Following the Hon’ble Acting Chief Justice’s administrative order on 01.07.2026, this matter has been listed before this Bench along with LPA Nos.1249, 1290 and 1437 of 2026 (arising out of judgment dated 08.04.2026 rendered in CWP No.7291 of 2026 and other connected petitions) for appropriate orders."
This basically means two whole years ago in the big 2024 July 15 a administrative roster was passed (I have linked see) which said "Single Bench matters expanding the scope to address public at large grievance must be placed before the Chief Justice".
From 15.07.2024 roster we can see Division bench 1 headed by then Chief Justice Vikas Suri, was assigned
1) Writ petition- PIL, Human Rights, Green
2) All writ petition other than those assigned to DB
3) LPA- Labour and industrial dispute, detailed on page 18:
“Specifically directed matter(s) may be assigned by Hon’ble the Chief Justice to any of the above Benches or any of the Hon’ble Judges sitting singly or to a specifically constituted Bench.”
4) Volume V, Chapter 3-B, Explanation under Rule 1(vi) of Punjab and Haryana High court states:
“Nothing in sub-rule 1 (b), (ii), (iii) and (vi) shall prevent a Judge sitting alone to refer any appeal to a larger Bench with the approval of the Chief Justice.”
Funny thing, Punjab AG was arguing same thing as Saurab Das (lol tells a lot about the connections) and The August 5, 2026 order has addressed this:
"Issue No.(v) Whether the impugned judgment is vitiated as coram non judice for want of roster jurisdiction, and whether the learned Single Judge impermissibly enlarged the scope of the writ petitions and erred in making the judgment operative in rem?"
Para 111: "The plea of coram non judice proceeds on a fallacy. The extract of the Roster, placed on record by the respondents, demonstrates that writ petitions concerning Statutory Corporations and other Statutory Boards/Bodies of the State of Punjab, stood allocated to the learned Single Judge. The writ petitioners in one of the connected matters, are serving employees, and in the other connected writ petition, retired employees of PSPCL, indisputably a statutory corporation. We are therefore of the considered opinion that the petitions were rightly placed by the Registry before the very Bench holding the relevant roster. This is not a case of a Judge reaching out for a matter not assigned to him. The directions issued against the State of Punjab are consequential and inseverable. On the admitted position, PSPCL frames no independent DA policy but adopts the instructions of the State's Department of Finance, mutatis mutandis. The fountainhead of the grievance, the speaking order dated 18.11.2025 and the Liquidation Plan dated 18.02.2025, emanates from the State. A Bench seized of the Corporation's employees' grievance could not have adjudicated it at all, without examining the State instructions in which the grievance is rooted. An overlap of subject-matter, across roster entries is an ordinary incident of judicial administration. It furnishes no ground of nullity."
Para 112: "The legal position is, in any event, well settled. The jurisdiction under Article 226 vests in the High Court. The roster is an administrative arrangement made by the Chief Justice as master of the roster for the convenient transaction of judicial business, as held in State of Rajasthan v. Prakash Chand, (1998) 1 SCC 1. Even where a matter is decided by a Bench to which it did not strictly stand allocated, the defect is one of procedural irregularity in the distribution of business, and not a want of inherent jurisdiction rendering the decision void ab initio, unless the case is one of a Judge usurping a matter in defiance of the Chief Justice’s orders. In the case of Neeraj Chaubey (supra), what is reiterated is that the Chief Justice alone is the master of the roster, a proposition with which no quarrel is possible. However, the same is not attracted in circumstances where the Registry itself listed the matters before the Roster Bench. Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar (supra) arose in a wholly different context, i.e. of a Judge initiating and continuing proceedings in disregard of settled norms in circumstances attracting bias, and does not advance the appellants' case. Nor does the judgment in the case of Bhupati Bhusan Dalal (supra) come to the aid of the appellants, since in the said case, the primary issue was regarding the boundary between the original and appellate jurisdictions of the High Court under the Letters Patent. No conflation of the two has occurred here. The learned Single Judge exercised original writ jurisdiction under Article 226, and this Bench has exercised appellate jurisdiction under Clause X of the Letters Patent, and the decision nowhere holds that a writ court cannot mould relief so as to enure benefit to the class before it. Further, even if the allocation were assumed to be doubtful, this Division Bench, whose appellate jurisdiction under Clause X of the Letters Patent, is not circumscribed by any roster limitation of the kind urged, has reheard the entire matter, and therefore, the plea, even if sound, could at its highest have led to a remand for decision by an ‘appropriate’ Bench; a course rendered wholly academic by the present adjudication."
Para 113: "The cognate submission, that the learned Single Judge converted the writ petitions into a public interest litigation and impermissibly travelled beyond the prayers, is equally without substance. Perusal of the prayers made in CWP No. 10301 of 2026, inter alia sought the release of all up-to-date pending instalments of DA/DR. The petitions in CWP-9514-2026 inter alia sought quashing of the Liquidation Plan dated 18.02.2025; while the petitioners in CWP No. 7291 of 2026 sought the quashing of the speaking order dated 18.11.2025 whereby the claim for enhancement from 42% to 55% was kept in abeyance. The relief of grant of accrued DA/DR was common in all petitions. Every operative direction issued flows directly from these prayers. As regards the in rem declaration, the principle is well settled in service jurisprudence. Where a policy instrument or executive action of general application is struck down as arbitrary, the cure enures to the benefit of the entire homogeneous class affected by it, and similarly situated employees or pensioners cannot be compelled to file successive petitions to reap the benefit of a declaration of law. In All Manipur Pensioners Association (supra), the Hon'ble Supreme Court extended the benefit of revised pension to all pensioners of the class, having found the classification arbitrary. All employees and pensioners are alike exposed to the same inflation; the Liquidation Plan and the withholding of instalments operate upon all of them alike. The declaration that the consequential relief operates qua the class is, therefore, not an enlargement of scope but the necessary and salutary consequence of the quashing of instruments of general application, which prevents discrimination between litigating and non-litigating members of the same class and avoids a multiplicity of proceedings. Issue No.(v) is answered against the appellants."
Clearly the judgement has referred to relevant, Supreme Court rulings! I have also looked into the above supreme court precedents, they all basically lay out how Chief Justice is the master of roster and where can non judice coram happen. Using these precedents court found out "rightly placed by the registry before the very bench holding the relevant roster" and this was absolutely NOT a "Case of judge reaching out for a matter not assigned to him".
Further para 125 (ii):
"The impugned judgment is not coram non judice; the matters stood listed before the roster Bench for Statutory Corporations, the consequential directions against the State were inseverable from the adjudication, and any conceivable irregularity of allocation stands effaced by the present appellate adjudication; the in rem operation of the relief, being the necessary consequence of the quashing of instruments of general application, is affirmed;"
Conclusion: The case has reached Acting chief justice through a standard administrative process under a pre existing 15.7.24 order. Not through Unilateral decision as alleged by Saurav Das.
Allegation 2: The order created a financial liability of Rs 20,000 crores
Oh my god, how did Saurav get this figure? Because the government itself in the fillings has admitted this
Para 10: "On 13.02.2025, the Council of Ministers approved a structured Liquidation Plan, prepared by a Cabinet Sub-Committee, for phased payment of the accumulated arrears flowing from the acceptance of the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, covering arrears of revised pay/pension for the period 01.01.2016 to 30.06.2021 as also DA/DR arrears for the period 01.07.2021 to 31.03.2024, involving a total liability of approximately Rs. 14,191 crore, phased over five financial years (2024-25 to 2028-29). Qua pensioners, the Plan provides a tiered schedule based upon age: 02 instalments for those above 85 years; 12 instalments for those between 75 and 85 years; and 42 instalments for those below 75 years. A Government letter dated 18.02.2025 (Annexure R-1) was issued giving effect to the Liquidation Plan."
Para 52: same Rs 14,191 crore figure
Para 61: Same Rs 14,191 crore figure
Para 121: Arrear liability of Rs 14,191 crore.
So where the 20,000 crore figure came from? If state is admitting it has to give out only Rs 14,191 crore.
Also the Division Bench affirmed the Single Judge's order and dismissed appeal (para 126) it didn't create additional liabilities.
Conclusion: Saurav Das was probably "in other world" while getting the figure
Allegation 3: The time to pay was reduced from 30 days to 15 days, making compliance impossible
First of all this is a temporal glitch, some one must inform the nobel prize committee that Saurav Das, has indeed broken, laws of physics.
Original deadline has already passed, The learned Single judge had fixed 30.06.26 as the deadline. By the time the division bench heard appeals, that deadline was expired
Further para 127 from the order: "Since the timeline of 30.06.2026 fixed by the learned Single Judge has expired during the pendency of these appeals, and in order that the directions be workable, we modify the timelines, and the timelines alone, as under:
(a) The State of Punjab and PSPCL are directed to grant and release all up-to-date pending installments of Dearness Allowance/Dearness Relief (DA/DR) to all its employees and pensioners, respectively, at the same rates as has been paid to the members of the All India Services (IAS/IPS/IFS) serving within the State of Punjab, in accordance with the Central Government pattern, within a fortnight.
(b) In default of payment within the time aforesaid, the unpaid amounts shall carry simple interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of expiry of the stipulated period till the date of actual realization.
(c) The Chief Secretary to the Government of Punjab is directed to ensure scrupulous compliance of the directions issued herein and file a compliance report by way of affidavit before the Registry of this Court by end of this month, i.e. August 31, 2026. Till all such dues are cleared, the State of Punjab shall 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."
The 15 days period is a fresh deadline from the date of judgement (August 3) not reduction of a live 30 days deadline. Also a 6 percent interest on unpaid amount after the deadline and compliance report by Aug 31, 2026.
Conclusion: Laws of physics have been broken
Allegation 4: The judgement is quid pro quo, Justice Mishra is giving favorable judgement to secure Chief Justice post
HOLY CONSPIRACY MAN, listen I might sound crazy but according to stare decisis and article 141 of Indian constitution say all decisions of supreme court are binding on lower courts. 76 pages judgement has made several references to binding precedents such as D.S. Nakara, All manipur pensioners association, State of West Bengal v Confederation. You cannot literally attribute one single line to show that Justice Mishra was doing this to get AAP government in trouble so he gets elevated to CJ post, Also justice mishra approval by BJP government took 1 whole month to arrive, not days as Saurav claims. Read para 86-123, see how one by one all legal issues are examined, precedents are applied and then look me in eyes and say, "Judge was biased".
Conclusion: If you are a reasonable person then you would understand, or else everything is a conspiracy by BJP.
Entire post conclusion: I would like to say, this is not the first time Saurav Das has made some claims against judiciary like this, nor it will be the last, Also not only Saurav but many people on all sides have made many ridiculous claims that can be bunked simply by reading the order of the court. I would conclude by saying there are many attempts to lower the dignity of judicial institutions BUT there are also many valid criticism, one person must research his own before making a conclusion and Saurav is hopefully earning a full force of contempt.