Shimla, Nov. 6 -- The Himachal Pradesh high court (HC) has delivered a severe reprimand to the state government over its failure to release allocated funds, warning that the lack of budget is "disrupting the normal functioning of the courts" and threatening to issue a contempt notice against the state's finance secretary.

Taking strict note of the failure to provide funds since September 2025, a division bench comprising Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma has directed the finance secretary to appear personally before the court on November 13 with a bank draft of Rs.10 crore payable to the registrar general of the High Court.

The court order explicitly stated the gravity of the situation, warning that failure to compl...