The Supreme Court is set to conclude on Thursday the hearing on the Bengal government’s appeal challenging the initiation of contempt proceedings in Calcutta High Court by state employees against the delay/refusal of the dearness allowance (DA).
A bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, for the second consecutive day, held the hearing for almost the entire day on Wednesday.
Senior advocates, P.S. Patwalia, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and Bansuri Swaraj, appeared for various employees’ associations. They defended the high court’s decision and rejected claims of the state that conceding the request would inflict a huge financial burden on the Bengal government.
The hearing of the matter, which had been pending since December 2022 and witnessed several adjournments, had commenced on Tuesday. The bench indicated on Wednesday that it would conclude the hearing on Thursday and reserve its verdict after the state replied to the arguments and contentions raised by the employees’ associations.
The state is represented by senior lawyers Kapil Sibal, Shyam Divan, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Huzefa Ahmad.
On June 27, citing financial constraints, Bengal had appealed to the Supreme Court for a “six-month” extension of the deadline fixed by the top court on May 16 this year to the state to pay an interim 25 per cent DA to the employees.
The state’s application had sought modification of the order dated May 16 to enable the government to implement the court’s directive by February 16, 2026. On May 16, the Supreme Court directed the state to pay 25 per cent DA within three months.