New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the West Bengal government to provide 25% dearness allowance (DA) to lakhs of state employees as an interim relief.
A bench led by Justices Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta ordered the state to comply within three months, with the DA arrears dispute scheduled for further hearing in August.
After receiving an unfavourable ruling from the Calcutta High Court, which ordered the West Bengal government to immediately pay DA arrears to state employees, the government filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court.
The Calcutta High Court had ruled that DA arrears are a legitimate right of state employees and not a charitable benefit. However, in an affidavit, the West Bengal government argued that complying with the court’s directive could result in a financial disaster for the state.
West Bengal government employees, represented by the Joint Forum of State Government Employees, have been staging protests demanding Dearness Allowance (DA) parity with Central government employees, along with the payment of accrued arrears.
In December last year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a 4% DA hike for state employees. However, the Joint Forum dismissed the increase as insufficient, arguing that a 36% gap still remains between state and central government employees' DA rates.
The Confederation of State Government Employees had also moved a contempt of court petition against the state government for missing the 3-month deadline for clearing the DA arrears. The Calcutta High Court had directed the Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary to file affidavits on why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them for not complying with its judgement directing the state government to clear DA arrears.
(inputs from IANS)