PSPCL challenges HC order for release of pending DA dues to staff, pensioners

The HC also directed the Chief Secretary to ensure compliance and file a report on July 2.

The PSPCL, in the appeal filed against the order, said the PSPCL was not a government department. It was an independent commercial entity that operated under the regulatory oversight of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC). The service conditions of the employees of the Appellant-PSPCL, including pay, allowances and DA, are governed by the PSPCL's own corporate regulations. The employees of the Appellant-PSPCL have no legally enforceable right to claim automatic parity with the state government employees in pay or allowances.

The Punjab Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2021, which are statutory rules made under Article 309 of the Constitution of India, have no application to the PSPCL or its employees. The Appellant-PSPCL independently framed the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (Revised Pay) Regulations, 2021, vide a finance circular.

These regulations constitute a complete and self-contained code governing the pay structure of the PSPCL employees recruited before

the DA was recognised as a component of "revised emoluments" under Regulation 3 (j), but its rate had been deliberately left to the PSPCL's administrative

determination. The PSPCL is not in default of any obligation that has actually been activated under its finance circular.

The state government employees and the PSPCL employees constitute entirely different classes, governed by different statutory frameworks, recruited under different rules, paid from different fund sources (the Consolidated Fund of the State of Punjab vs PSERC-regulated tariff revenue), and subject to entirely different regulatory regimes.

The PSPCL, in the appeal, prayed that the present appeal be accepted and the judgment dated April 8 passed by the single judge in Niram Singh Dhanoa and Others vs Additional Chief Secretary to Government of Punjab may be set aside and the writ petition filed by the respondents may be dismissed with costs.

The single bench in the order quashed the letter/liquidation plan dated February 18, 2025, Department of Finance, Government of Punjab.