Cuttack, Sept. 12: Orissa High Court has warned the special secretary of general administration department that it would face contempt charges if it does not implement by September 20 an earlier order related to appointment in state civil services.

The court gave the ultimatum yesterday after expressing dissatisfaction over the department's dilly-dallying over complying with the order issued three-and-a-half years ago. The court was hearing a contempt petition filed by Surya Madhab Panigrahi and Sailendra Kumar Samal.

According to case records, the petitioners in the case were among those selected for Class II posts in the Odisha Civil Services exam in 1987, but got appointed in Class III post as sub-registrar in 1988. They sought intervention of the State Administrative Tribunal. But, the tribunal had dismissed their petition in 2005 as 15 years passed. Then the petitioners moved the high court the same year. But, the case had languished till the high court directed the department's special secretary on January 21, 2014, to appoint the petitioners in Class II post and give them seniority accordingly.

The petitioners filed the contempt petition before completion of one year in January as there was no response when they approached the government with the high court order. Acting on it, the court on August 18 posted the contempt matter to September 4 for hearing, along with the compliance report of the state government on its January 21, 2014 order.

But when the matter came up on September 4, the department's special secretary Ashok K. Meena filed an affidavit seeking more time on the plea of filing a special leave petition against the January 21, 2014 order in the Supreme Court. The court, however, rejected the plea and ordered Meena's personal appearance before it on September 11. Meena appeared in person yesterday but reiterated about the department's decision to file the special leave petition and sought time till its disposal by the Supreme Court.

'Taking note of it, the division bench of Justice Sanju Panda and Justice S. Pujahari directed the special secretary to file a compliance report on the January 21, 2014 order by September 20,' petitioner counsel Pravu Kumar Pandit said today.

'The division bench made it clear that it would frame contempt charges against Meena if a compliance report was not filed by then,' Pandit said.