Agartala, Oct. 28: The Tripura government will file a review petition in the Supreme Court to avoid clearing dues of all the officers and employees of Tripura Jute Mill as directed by the apex court's division bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre, on Tuesday.

The apex court's order will entail a total expense of more than Rs 50 crore for the state government, through clearing dues with 6 per cent interest, with effect from April 1, 1996.

The state industries department, which controls Tripura Jute Mill, held a series of meetings and decided to file a review petition with the plea that dues would be given only to officers and supervisor-rank employees, as the case filed by the other employees had lapsed at the high court level and was not pursued.

"This will help the state government manage the crisis, as it will have to spend only Rs 4 crore to Rs 5 crore," said K.P. Basak, a member of the board of directors of the jute mill.

Basak said the state government had implemented the Fourth State Pay Commission's recommendations but deprived the officers and employees. Hence, the officers and employees had filed separate cases in the then Gauhati High Court's Agartala bench, demanding parity.

In the interim order passed by high court Judge N.G. Das, the state government was directed to implement the hike and allowances for the jute mill officers and employees on a par with other PSU officers and employees.

However, the state government had only marginally hiked the pay and allowances.

"The employees' association did not pursue the case but the officers did. In 2003, the then Justice T. Vaiphei (current Chief Justice of Tripura High Court) dismissed the officers' case, citing financial inability of the state government," said Basak.

However, the officers continued the case in the division bench of Gauhati High Court and in 2011, got an order directing the state government to clear all the dues.

The government moved the Supreme Court and on Tuesday, the division bench of the Supreme Court upheld the order of the high court's division bench.

"The state is likely to file a review petition that the Tripura Jute Mill is not in the stage of production and has no income," said Basak. The petition is likely to be filed soon.