Kolkata, February 8 Around 200 people participated in a rally organized by Sangrami Joutha Mancha, a platform of West Bengal government employees, in the city on Sunday, demanding the immediate release of pending Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears in compliance with a Supreme Court order.
In a relief for nearly 20 lakh government employees, the Supreme Court on February 5 directed the West Bengal government to pay DA to them for the 2008-2019 period, stating that it is a legally enforceable right.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra directed the state government to pay 25 per cent of the outstanding DA to its employees by March 6.
They also directed the state government to file a status report after the payment of the first installment and posted the matter for compliance on April 15.
"We demand that the state enforces the Supreme Court order without delay. If the state does not act immediately, we will intensify the movement this month," a spokesperson of the platform said.
The rally covered a distance of 1 km from Subodh Mallick Square to Esplanade and issued a call for all government employees to be a part of the movement.
The platform had organized a march to Nabanna earlier this week, but were stopped by police near the main gate.
The controversy began when a section of state government employees approached the Calcutta High Court in 2022, demanding DA at the same rate as their central government counterparts, along with pending arrears.
In May 2022, the high court ruled in favour of the employees and instructed the state to align its DA with central rates.
However, the state government challenged the high court's verdict by filing an appeal in the Supreme Court in November 2022.
Since then, the state has implemented marginal increases in DA, which have not kept pace with the central government's rates.
