Kolkata, Feb 6 (NationPress) The Supreme Court has mandated that the West Bengal government disburse Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears to state employees and pensioners for the period spanning 2008 to 2019. Additionally, the court has ordered the state to pay 25% of this sum by March 31 this year, resulting in an immediate financial impact of over Rs 10,000 crore and a long-term cost of Rs 42,000 crore.

A Finance Department official commented on Friday, "These figures are preliminary. We have commenced an assessment to determine the precise financial implications, with the final amount expected to be confirmed once this process is completed."

In the interim (Vote-on-Account) Budget proposal for the fiscal year 2026-27, a 4% increase in dearness allowance was announced for government employees and pensioners in West Bengal. However, even with this increase, the DA disparity between state employees and their counterparts in the Union government remains at 36%.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld the position of state employees, stating that receiving DA equivalent to that of central government employees is a right rather than a "gift of mercy" as claimed by the state government.

Economists argue that the court's observations stem from the government's economically unsound rationale for determining DA for state employees, which has lacked data-driven arguments.

The first major flaw identified was the West Bengal government's refusal to utilize the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) as a standard for calculating DA for state employees. The AICPI is recognized nationally as the appropriate benchmark for this purpose.

Despite the government's insistence on disregarding the AICPI, it failed to propose any alternative metric for DA calculation, leading the court to assert that once DA is defined in the West Bengal Services (Revision of Pay and Allowances) Rules, 2009 (ROPA), the state cannot change the calculation method through later office memoranda.

The second flaw noted by economists relates to the illogical existence of two separate DA rates for different categories of state employees.

The first group comprises West Bengal government employees stationed in other states, who receive DA at par with central government employees. The second group includes those working within the state, who do not receive DA on par with their central counterparts.

Economists and legal analysts view these disparate DA rates as highly irregular and a significant barrier for the state government in articulating its arguments effectively before the Supreme Court.

Given that DA is part of the salary structure, applying differential rates of DA to different categories of permanent employees, especially within the same government framework, is untenable.