New Delhi. Once again disappointing news has come to light regarding the arrears of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) for lakhs of central government employees and pensioners. People who were expecting the payment of installments of 18 months which were stopped for a long time during the Covid period, have been shocked by the latest statement of the Finance Ministry. The government has made it clear that it is not possible to release these outstanding amounts at present.
Effect of Covid period still becomes the reason
The Finance Ministry has stated in its clarification that the country’s economic condition was under severe pressure during the pandemic. At that time the government had to spend extensively on health services and relief schemes, making maintaining financial balance a challenge. For this reason, it was decided to stop the three installments of DA/DR to be implemented from January 2020, July 2020 and January 2021.
Demands raised again and again, but not approved
For the last several years, there has been a continuous demand for payment of these outstanding installments by employee organizations and pensioners. The issue was raised at various forums and even appeals were made to release the arrears on legal grounds. Despite this, the government did not accept this demand every time citing financial circumstances.
The stance did not change even in the context of the Supreme Court
Recently, an employee organization had demanded payment of arrears citing a decision of the Supreme Court. But the Finance Ministry made it clear that the economic impact of the pandemic was not limited to just one year, but fiscal pressure continued even after that. In such a situation, payment of arrears is not considered practical.
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