Kolkata, 2 October (IANS) has approved a three -percent increase in dearness allowance (DA) rates for central government employees and pensioners with Union Cabinet, has been obtained by their counterparts in the Central Government as compared to the difference in DA rates given to West Bengal government employees.
With the latest increase, the DA rates received by the central government employees will be 58 percent, as the interval was increased by 40 percent, compared to the 18 percent palate amount received by the West Bengal government employees.
In view of the increasing gap, the United Forum of State Government employees, the umbrella bodies of the state government employees, led the agitation demanding DA payment with the central government employees, as well as the dues earned on it, planning a major and constant protest movement on this issue, which has ended after the Mandatory season.
According to the forum convenor Bhaskar Ghosh, the employees of the state government in another state in the country are such a huge difference between the DA received by him and his counterparts in the central government.
“Apart from the West Bengal government in India, no other state government deprives state government employees in this way. There are many states in India which are financially weak compared to Bengal. But anywhere the state government employees are not deprived of this way,” Ghosh claimed.
Earlier this year, a division bench of the Supreme Court had directed the West Bengal government to pay 25 percent DA dues to the employees of the state government. However, the state government filed a review petition in the apex court on that order.
Recently, both various associations of West Bengal government and state government employees gave their written presentations in the apex court in this matter.
The state government argued that under Article 309 of the Constitution of India, each state government had the right to determine the salaries and allowances of its employees and no state government was obliged to follow the DA policy adopted by the Center.
The unions of the state government employees have argued that the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) should be followed as benchmarks for calculating and determining DA for the West Bengal government employees, as it is a benchmark to determine the DA rates by the central government and most state governments.
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