Shimla, Sept. 24 -- Himachal Pradesh high court (HC) on Tuesday directed the Government of India to produce the file notings relating to the six-month service extension of state chief secretary Prabodh Saxena. The HC had directed the Union Government to produce, through a special messenger, the official file after Additional Solicitor General of India SD Sanjay appeared through video conferencing on Tuesday and clarified that the file containing notings is available. He submitted that the said file can be produced if for perusal of the court as to whether the competent authority was informed that sanction for prosecution has been granted against Saxena in the context of issue of extension sought for. The matter came up before a division bench comprising chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and justice Ranjan Sharma in connected petitions, including the PIL filed by Atul Sharma questioning Saxena's extension and vigilance clearance. The court has now listed the case for further hearing on September 24. On September 6, Union government had told the HC that CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had sent a request for recommending the grant of extension in service to Prabodh Saxena, who was serving as chief secretary to the Government of Himachal Pradesh for a period of one year. Prabodh Saxena - the 1990-batch officer was given a six-month extension in March this year. Saxena, who was due to retire on March 31, himself broke the news at his farewell dinner organised by the Himachal IAS Officers Association on March 28 night. "The CM had sought extension of 1 year citing that he is executing various projects in the state in public interest. Resultantly, the competent authority granted the extension to the serving chief secretary for a period of six months, which was in consonance with the rules," read the reply filed by the Union of India while responding to the PIL filed by petitioner Atul Sharma seeking cancellation of the government's March 28, order granting Prabodh Saxena a six-month extension as chief secretary, despite a pending CBI chargesheet against him. Additional Solicitor General of India had even apprised the high court that there is a cap on the period of extension which is only six months and there can be no further extension beyond the said period in view of the mandatory provisions of the Rules. The Himachal Pradesh High Court on August 13 had summoned the entire record from the central and state governments to examine the justification for granting a six-month extension to chief secretary. The Himachal government on September 4 had produced record by the state in a sealed cover regarding the communications....