NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday held that West Bengal government employees are entitled to Dearness Allowance (DA) as a legally enforceable right under the statutory pay rules and directed the state government to pay arrears for the period between 2008 and 2019.
While constituting a high-level committee to finalise a binding payment schedule, a Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra partly upheld the 2022 Calcutta High Court judgment, which had ruled in favour of state government employees and directed payment of DA at par with Central government employees.
Pronouncing the verdict on appeals filed by the West Bengal government, the Apex Court held that once DA is defined in the West Bengal Services (Revision of Pay and Allowances) Rules, 2009 (ROPA) by linking it to the All-India Consumer Price Index (AICPI), the state government could not alter the manner of its calculation through subsequent office memoranda.