The Supreme Court has directed the Mamata Banerjee-led state government in West Bengal to clear outstanding dearness allowance (DA) dues to eligible employees within the next three months, news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Friday. This could bring relief to state government staff in the form of windfall due to the sudden release of the amount of money. Dearness allowance is a special allowance aimed at compensating central and state administration staff, public sector employees and pensioners for the rising cost of living. In other words, dearness allowance is meant to help offset the impact of inflation on the eligible people’s purchasing power.
How much dearness allowance can the state government staff expect?
The top court has directed the state to pay a dearness allowance of 25 per cent for the three-month period, according to the report.
Earlier, a group of West Bengal state administration staff approached the Calcutta High Court, seeking a dearness allowance at par with their central government counterparts.
In May 2022, the Calcutta High Court directed the West Bengal state government to pay DA at central government rates.
Then, the West Bengal government challenged this ruling in the country’s apex court in November 2022.
Since then, the state has declared a few hikes in dearness allowance. However, the DA rate in the state continues to be significantly lower than that of the central government. The gap reportedly stands at 37 per cent.
