DA issue: Contempt of court petition filed in High Court against Bengal govt

Kolkata: The payment of pending dearness allowance (DA) arrears to West Bengal government employees, which is already shrouded with controversy for quite a long time, took a dramatic turn on Monday with a contempt of court petition filed against the state government.

In the petition filed at the division bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Rabindranath Samanta, the Confederation of State Government Employees has pointed out that the earlier deadline as set by the court for clearing the DA arrears to the state government has expired on August 19 and the state government is yet to make any progress on this count. Hence, they petitioner, argued that this tantamount to contempt of court.

The division bench has accepted the petition and the matter will be heard on August 24.

On August 12, the state government filed a review petition at the same bench urging it to reconsider the earlier decision on May 22 this year, to complete the process of payment of pending DA arrears to the state government by August 19 as per provisions of the West Bengal Services (Revision of Pay and Allowance) Rules, 2009.

On Monday, the confederation while filing the contempt of court petition also claimed that the state government did not furnish a copy of the review petition to them as a party in the matter which is against the rules.

To recall, the confederation first filed a petition at the state administrative tribunal (SAT) demanding the payment of pending DA arrears at the rate of 32 per cent. The SAT order went in favour of the state government employees.

However, the state government challenged the SAT order at a division bench of the Calcutta High Court.

After a prolonged legal battle, the division bench too in an order on May 22 this year had upheld the order of SAT and directed the state government to complete the process of payment of pending DA arrears within three months.