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Hans India
06-07-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Mamata govt's lack of data-driven discourse leads to Bengal DA crisis
With the West Bengal government failing to meet the deadline for paying 25 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears to the state government employees by the midnight of June 27 as directed by the Supreme Court, economists and insiders from the system said the basic flaws lie in the lack of data required for calculating the accurate dues and payout from state exchequer. The first flaw, according to economists, is a persistent lack of clarity in the formula applied for calculating or determining the DA rates for state government employees, both in the context of the previous 5th Pay Commission and in the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission. Had the state government followed the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) as the benchmark for calculating and determining DA for the state government employees, such a lack of clarity could have been easily overcome by now, economists feel. AICPI is followed as the benchmark for determining the DA rates by the Union government and most state governments. Nationally, AICPI is the accepted formula for this purpose. However, the West Bengal government is not agreeable to accepting AICPI as the benchmark in fixing the Dearness Allowance rate for its employees. Hence the lack of clarity and data-driven discourse continued, which ultimately resulted in conflicts between the state government and its employees. Currently, the West Bengal government employees receive Dearness Allowances at the rate of just 18 per cent, as against 55 per cent received by their counterparts in the Union government and even many other state governments. With the Supreme Court deadline of June 27 at midnight for payment of 25 per cent DA arrears to the state government employees already over, the West Bengal government has already made a plea to the apex court seeking six months of additional time for paying the same. Secondly, the exact number of beneficiaries in the state government, who were supposed to benefit from this Supreme Court order, as well as the category-wise breakup of beneficiaries, is not at all clear as of now. Naturally, with the lack of clarity in the numbers under these two heads, there is also a lack of clarity and data-driven discourse on the payout from the state exchequer for each category and subsequently the total payout under all the categories combined. Already, confusion has surfaced over the pressure on the state exchequer to pay the 25 per cent DA arrears to the state government employees as directed by the Supreme Court. While one section within the state finance department claims that the payout will be a little over Rs 10,000 crore, another section quotes the figure to be slightly less than Rs 12,000 crore. Economists said that had there been enough clarity in the data under the heads mentioned above, this confusion would not also have arisen. Economists also feel that the hush-hush approach of the West Bengal government in portraying the actual arithmetic on this count has resulted in this lack of clarity and data-driven discourse. For a long time, the state government had not even made the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission, the latest, public. The recommendations were made public only after a single-judge bench of Calcutta High Court directed the state government to do so. While passing the order the single- judge of Justice Amrita Sinha observed that since Pay Commission documents were not included in the classified category, maintaining such secrecy in the matter by the state government was unnecessary. As regards the members of the state cabinet including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, all have maintained a brooding silence in the matter. On the issue of dearness allowance, the Chief Minister just said once the state government would move as per law.
Indian Express
02-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
HC freezes one-third salary of Punjab health secretary in pension row
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently ordered the attachment of one-third of the salary of the Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, until compliance is ensured with a prior court judgment granting pension benefits to retired Senior Lecturer Dr Parveen Parkash. Parveen Parkash, who retired from Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, had initially approached the court through his advocate Abhilaksh Gaind, filing a contempt petition to address the non-implementation of a July 13, 2023, high court judgment. That judgment had directed his promotion/redesignation as Senior Lecturer, effective from August 16, 1991, with corresponding revisions to his pension and retiral benefits. Despite this order, Parkash alleged that the promised benefits remained unfulfilled. The dispute escalated during a resumed hearing on March 5, 2025, when the state counsel assured the court that arrears of pension from April 1, 2017, to June 30, 2021, along with leave encashment differences, would be released within three weeks. Relying on this undertaking, the contempt petition was withdrawn. However, the court had cautioned that failure to comply would allow the petitioner to revive the petition, with the erring officer liable to pay Rs 50,000 in costs from their personal funds. Despite this warning, the arrears were not released, and the leave encashment was erroneously calculated based on the 5th Pay Commission's pay scale, while Parkash's pension had been revised under the 6th Pay Commission. This discrepancy prompted Parkash, represented by advocates Abhilaksh Gaind and Rakesh Roy, to file an application to revive the contempt petition, citing a false statement made to the court. Parkash contended that his arrears of pension from April 1, 2017, to June 30, 2021, and the difference in leave encashment were not correctly calculated or released. He highlighted that the leave encashment was computed based on the 5th Pay Commission's pay scale of Rs 72,380, whereas his pension was revised to Rs 1,91,400 under the 6th Pay Commission effective January 1, 2025. This discrepancy, he argued, led to an underpayment of Rs 3,00,812 instead of the entitled Rs 9,88,645. Expressing serious concern over the state's conduct, Justice Harkesh Manuja remarked, 'It does not appear to be a bona fide error on the part of the non-applicant/respondent, as such the applicant-petitioner is unnecessarily compelled to approach this Court by filing the revival application.' Consequently, the court attached one-third of the Health Secretary's salary until compliance is achieved, directing the IAS Branch, Punjab Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh, to enforce the order. The matter is now adjourned to July 28, 2025, for further proceedings, with the case placed on the urgent cause list.
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Business Standard
16-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Nitish Kumar-led Bihar govt hikes DA for its employees, pensioners to 55%
The Bihar government announced a 2 percentage points increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) for its employees and pensioners on Friday. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. With this hike, employees and pensioners in the pay scale of the 7th Pay Commission will get DA and Dearness Relief (DR) of 55 per cent, Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat) S Siddharth said. "A hike of 6 percentage points has been approved for those in the pay scale of the 6th Pay Commission. This will raise their DA and DR to 252 per cent. For those in the pay scale of the 5th Pay Commission, the DA and DR have been raised by 11 percentage points to 466 per cent," he said. The hike will benefit more than 5 lakh employees and over 6 lakh pensioners, officials said. It will be effective from January 1, 2025, they said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Time of India
16-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Bihar government hikes DA for its employees to 55 pc
The Bihar government announced a 2 percentage points increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) for its employees and pensioners on Friday. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar . With this hike, employees and pensioners in the pay scale of the 7th Pay Commission will get DA and Dearness Relief (DR) of 55 per cent, Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat) S Siddharth said. "A hike of 6 percentage points has been approved for those in the pay scale of the 6th Pay Commission. This will raise their DA and DR to 252 per cent. For those in the pay scale of the 5th Pay Commission, the DA and DR have been raised by 11 percentage points to 466 per cent," he said. Continue to video 5 5 Next Stay Playback speed 1x Normal Back 0.25x 0.5x 1x Normal 1.5x 2x 5 5 / Skip Ads by Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like สะดวกสบายและราคาประหยัด - ราคาเตียงอัจฉริยะใน Thailand อาจทำให้คุณประหลาดใจ Smart Beds ค้นหาตอนนี้ Undo The hike will benefit more than 5 lakh employees and over 6 lakh pensioners, officials said. It will be effective from January 1, 2025, they said.
