The West Bengal government has approached the Supreme Court, seeking a revision of its previous order on pending dearness allowance. Sources say the petition also requests clarifications on specific parts of last month’s ruling.
The West Bengal government approached the Supreme Court to seek a revision of its previous order regarding the pending dearness allowance.
According to sources from the state secretariat, the petition includes requests for clarifications on certain aspects of last month’s ruling.
Also Read: Supreme Court Orders Bengal Government to Pay 25% Pending DA to Employees Within 4 Weeks
Despite filing the petition, the state government is proceeding with preparations to pay 25 percent of the outstanding dearness allowance dues by the required deadline.
A senior official stated,
“However, the Supreme Court is on vacation now. Therefore, even though the petition has been filed, it may not be listed for hearing until the vacation period is over. So the state government has kept the preparatory process on for paying the 25 percent of the pending dearness allowances dues within the Supreme Court stipulated deadline, to avoid any possibility of contempt of court.”
The immediate payment of this 25 percent will lead to an outflow of over Rs 10,000 crore from the state’s finances, according to calculations from the state Finance Department.
Currently, government employees in Bengal receive dearness allowances at a rate of only 18 percent, compared to 55 percent received by their counterparts in the central government and other states.
Employees in the Finance Department are concerned that this financial outflow may also affect monthly payments for various welfare schemes administered by the state.
Last month, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee indirectly linked the dearness allowance crisis to the Union government, stating that since the Union government had frozen payments for several centrally-sponsored schemes, the state had to fund these projects from its own resources, which has put constant pressure on the state budget.
Background
The DA issue has been a long-standing concern for Bengal government employees. Currently, state government employees in Bengal receive 18 per cent DA, after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier announced a 4 per cent DA hike during her budget speech this year.
In comparison, central government employees receive 55 per cent DA, which is significantly higher.
Some employees working under the Bengal government had moved the Calcutta High Court, demanding that they should be paid DA at the same rate as the central government employees, and that their pending DA dues should also be cleared.
Earlier, The Bengal government challenged this High Court order in the Supreme Court.