Chandigarh, Jan. 10 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday directed the Punjab chief secretary to file an affidavit by January 15 detailing whether prosecution sanctions in the irrigation scam against accused persons have been accorded or rejected by the government. While passing the order the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Neerja Kulwant Kalson warned that in case of failure the court may take "coercive steps against the functionaries of the state". The direction came on an application filed by one Harmeet Kumar of Bathinda, who had sought recall of the high court's July 14, 2021, order by which a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by him in connection with the irrigation scam was disposed of. The application seeking recall of the order was pending since May 2023 and during the hearing his lawyer had told the court that the state had not even filed a response to the application. As per the application the PIL was disposed of after the court was informed that 14 challans had been presented before the trial court in theFIR registered on August 17, 2017. While disposing of the PIL, the court had observed that the decision on sanction to prosecute was awaited and had directed the government to take a decision "expeditiously". However, his lawyer had pointed out that there had been no headway in the investigation and no action appears to have been taken against the high-profile persons in the case. Hence, the matter be handed over for probe to CBI. As per the plea the names of two former ministers and three IAS officers had cropped up in the investigation. But the government was dilly dallying on investigation. During the hearing on Friday, the court noted that despite the passage of considerable time, the affidavit has not been filed. It recorded that an undertaking was given in November 2024 to file the affidavit within a month. But the same has not been done even till now. "It's been one year and two months since the passing of the last order and the same request is made today by the state of Punjab," the bench observed, seeking an affidavit regarding grant or refusal of sanction by next week. The multi-crore scam had allegedly taken place during the SAD-BJP regime from 2012-17. The FIR was registered on August 17, 2017, under the Prevention of Corruption Act against kingpin and contractor Gurinder Singh and some officers of the state. The vigilance bureau said during the Akali government's tenure, senior officials connived with the contractor and allocated works worth Rs.1,000 crore to him at more than 50% of the departmental rates. As per the vigilance, Gurinder had made a confessional statement on December 19, 2017, that he had paid bribes in crores to get undue benefits....