Chandigarh, Nov. 4 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has sent 128 petitions filed by employees from different departments of Punjab to an empowered committee formed by the state government in April to deal with issues of promotional increments and other related issues. The high court bench of justice HS Brar directed the employees to submit comprehensive representations setting out their respective claims before the committee within one month and asked the committee to adjudicate their claims by passing a speaking order within three months. The court has also given opportunity to those employees who had not approached court to submit a representation before the committee. The petitions had sought directions to the PSPCL and other departments to release promotional increments and arrears with 12% interest, citing government circulars and previous court rulings in similar cases in the past two-three decades. "This court is constrained to observe that the controversy involved herein has travelled to this court on multiple occasions, and has even engaged the attention of the Supreme Court. One is compelled to ask what purpose does the litigation policy (framed by the state in 2020) serve if matters, despite being conclusively settled by judicial pronouncements, are permitted to endlessly spiral back into litigation until they once again reach the highest constitutional forum," the court observed....