Calcutta HC Directs Bengal Government to hold the DA talk with Government Employees

The Employees of the West Bengal Government have been staging protests against the Mamata Banerjee Government demanding an increase in the Dearness Allowance and for the payment of the arrears. The Bengal Government had announced only 6 percent DA against the 37 percent backlog by which they are behind the Central Government employees. This has affected a large chunk of the functioning of the Calcutta High Court as the Court's employees have also been part of this protest

The bench of Justice TS Sivagnanam, Acting Chief Justice and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya directed the Advocate General to ask the State for holding discussions and dialogues afresh with the employees before the 17th of April. However, the next hearing is on the 13 April 2023.

The Counsel for the Employees, Saptangshu Basu stated their concern also pertains to the derogatory statements made against the protesting employees by the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee to which the Bench mentioned that there were other remedies in this regard, but definitely not the protest. The agitating employees must be given assurance by the State government in  order that the current state of affairs can be rendered a better solution and there must be involvement of top officers like Chief Secretary and the Finance Secretary to give a better result to the dialogue. The Court had therefore requested the employees to wait for sometime until the Supreme Court comes out with a decision as the matter of the DA is pending before it. The court also mentioned that the Government has claimed a loss of Rs 436 crores because of the strike and this must be looked into nonetheless.