Bengal: State govt employees renew protest seeking pending DA clearance

Kolkata, Feb 8 (IANS) Members of the Joint Forum of State Government Employees on Sunday took to the streets in Kolkata to put pressure on the Mamata Banerjee government to release the 25 per cent pending Dearness Allowance (DA) in accordance with the Supreme Court verdict.

The members held a procession from Subodh Mallick Square to Rani Rashmoni Road in central Kolkata. BJP MP Saumitra Khan also joined the procession to express his solidarity with the state government employees. The protesters alleged that despite the Supreme Court’s order, the state government was showing reluctance to clear the pending DA.

Members of the platform further alleged that the state government has not yet made any announcement regarding the DA, even after the Supreme Court’s order. Government employees have taken to the streets again to ensure that the government does not file a review petition against the order.

Bhaskar Ghosh, convener of the joint forum, said, “The government should now abide by the court’s order. This DA will not only go to the employees; the money will circulate in the market. Along with this, the value of labour will increase. This entire cycle has been broken after the state government did not pay the pending DA.”

On February 5, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while speaking to media persons in the state Assembly, said, “The committee that gave this verdict included two Supreme Court judges and one from the CAG. But there was no representative from the West Bengal government. Therefore, after considering this and consulting with lawyers, we have formed a committee headed by the Chief Secretary. They will consider and review this matter. We will proceed according to their recommendations.”

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Mamata Banerjee government to clear 25 per cent of the DA due to state government employees by March 31.

A division bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra also directed the state government to constitute a four-member committee to decide on the remaining 75 per cent of the DA.

The same bench had, in August last year, reserved its judgement in the case.

In an interim order passed on May 16 last year, the apex court had directed the state government to pay 25 per cent of the dearness allowance to its employees within three months. The Mamata Banerjee government later pleaded with the Supreme Court to extend the deadline by six months, citing fund constraints.

It may be recalled that since 2022 there have been 18 adjournments in the matter after the Mamata Banerjee government filed an appeal against contempt proceedings initiated by the Calcutta High Court over the DA issue.

Since April 1, 2025, the dearness allowance for Bengal government employees has been fixed at 18 per cent of the basic salary in last year’s state budget proposals. The gap between central government employees and state government employees is around 40 per cent.

–IANS

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