Srinagar, Aug 6 (Reporter) The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on Tuesday put on guard the bureaucracy in the Union Territory over “non-compliance” of Court directions and ordered the Chief Secretary and other senior officers to be personally present during the hearing of a contempt case related to engineers’ pay scale on August 8. The order came a day after Ganderbal deputy commissioner Shyambir Singh, an IAS officer on deputation to J&K from Madhya Pradesh, appeared personally before the High Court in a contempt reference made by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ganderbal. On Tuesday, the Division Bench of High Court comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Javed Iqbal Wani, ordered the personal appearance of the Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary; Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD) and Secretary of the Public Works Department (PWD) on August 8, in response to the contempt petition related to pay scales of engineers. “All the four contemnors herein are directed to remain present in person before this Court on the next date, as this Court could not conduct an effective hearing today on account of the absence of the Chief Secretary... If any of them does not comply with the direction for personal appearance on August 8, this Court shall resort to coercive measures to secure their presence,” the order read. The contempt case is related to a dispute over the pay scales of Chief Engineers compared to Superintending Engineers. The High Court in August 10, 2023 had passed an order and directed J&K government that Chief Engineers and other higher ranking engineers shall be entitled to corresponding higher pay scale than the one given to Superintending Engineers. The Court had ordered that this said exercise shall be undertaken by the authorities as early as possible preferably within a period of three months. The Bench observed from the manner in which the Union Territory Government has conducted itself, it is clear that there is an absolute lack of sincerity of purpose on its part to comply with the order passed by this Court. “It reflects a sorry state of affairs that exists in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with regard to judicial proceedings and judicial orders,” the Court observed. The Court said that the number of contempt petitions pending before the High Court as on date is a little over 6,000. The Court said a contempt case must be concluded ideally in three to five hearings. “This reflects a shocking scenario where the Executive is ignoring the orders passed by this Court consistently with utter disdain, cocky that this Court shall take no measures imperiling their liberty for their disobedience. This environment has come to exist on account of the excessive latitude being shown by this Court, time and again, only to maintain a harmonious relationship between the judiciary and the executive,” the Court observed The case has been listed on Thursday...////...