Employees are now mobilizing against the Central Government to stop the arrears of ‘DA-DR’ of the employees. At present, the workers have given an ultimatum of 30 days to the central government. The personnel have described it as an action before going to court. JCM member and AIDEF general secretary CSreekumar has written a letter to the Cabinet Secretary on September 3 in this regard that if the government does not make any announcement regarding the arrears of the employees in a month, then the matter will go before the Supreme Court.
Sreekumar says, last year the Central Government had banned the DA-DR of government employees and pensioners under the guise of Kovid-19. Railway, defence, postal and hospital personnel performed their responsibilities well during the pandemic. These workers had deposited one day’s salary in the PM Care Fund. The government saved Rs 40,000 crore by stopping payment of 11 per cent DA of workers. Due to the pressure of the workers, the Center has decided to issue DA-DR at the rate of 11 per cent from July 1.
Employees say, the government did not talk about the arrears of DA-DR from January 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021. Along with this, an order was also issued that from January 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021, DA-DR was frozen. DA rates have not been increased during that period. In these 18 months, the rate of DA should be considered only 17 percent. It became clear from the government’s point that the workers should no longer wait for the arrears.
The employees’ organizations have referred to the decisions given by the Supreme Court from time to time to the government. Sreekumar points out, the Supreme Court has said, salary and pension is an absolute right of the workers. It is payable, as per law. The Secretary/Staff of the National Council (JCM) vide their letter dated 16/04/2021 had opposed the decision of the Government to freeze the DA/DR. This move of the government is against the accepted recommendations of the Pay Commissions.
In the 48th meeting of the National Council (JCM) held on 26 June 2021, Staffside had demanded that three installments of DA/DR payable to Central Government employees and pensioners be paid with effect from 01/01/2020. The Finance Ministry, through an office memorandum dated 20 July 2021, issued orders to increase the DA to 28 percent of the basic pay from the existing 17 percent. This means that the Central Government has rejected the matter of giving the arrears of DA / DR increased from 01/01/2020, 01/07/2020 and 01/01/2021.
The Supreme Court has said that the government cannot permanently withhold the salaries of its workersThe Pay Commission has also recommended decisions in cases where a principle or general issue of a general nature applicable to a group or category of government employees, would also apply to those employees who have not sued or approached the courts. . According to Sreekumar, if the Government of India is not taking any decision to release the three enhanced installments of arrears of DA/DR as requested above, the employees union will be compelled to take appropriate legal action for the purpose of getting justice. This ultimatum of personnel may be treated as a pre-litigation application. If no favorable decision is received within a period of one month, the personnel will proceed with appropriate legal action.
