The Bengal administration on Friday moved to the Supreme Court seeking a six-month extension of the deadline fixed by the court on May 16 to pay 25 per cent of dearness allowance (DA) dues to state government employees.

The application was filed before the Supreme Court by the state’s standing counsel Kunal Mimani. The government has pleaded that the deadline of June 27, 2025, be extended by six months.

The interlocutory application is likely to be heard only after July 14 since the court is presently in summer recess.

According to certain estimates, the May 16 Supreme Court directive would leave a burden of about ₹10,000 crore on the struggling state coffers.

Sources in Nabanna said the government was forced to move to the Supreme Court seeking some more time, as the state was not in a position to shoulder such a
huge burden.

“There was a budgetary allocation for this unexpected expenditure. Now, to meet the huge additional expenditure, the state would have to go for market borrowing, which would require the Centre’s approval. As this is a time-consuming process, we need some time,” said a source in
the administration.

A section of officials, however, said that the decision to move to the Supreme Court was taken only to delay the payment of the due DA.

Had the state paid 25 per cent of the outstanding DA in June, the petitioners would have pleaded before the Supreme Court to clear the remaining portion of the dues during the next hearing in August. If the court issues an order to release another 25 per cent or 50 per cent of the pending DA to the employees, it would leave the government in a tight situation ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, explained a source.

Senior advocate and CPM MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who represented the Confederation of State Government Employees, described the petition as a
delaying tactic.

“The latest move by the state to seek extension of the deadline was nothing but an attempt to defer the payments till the conclusion of the elections next year,” he said.

Sources in the government said the ruling establishment had plans to increase the benefits under the welfare schemes ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls. If it spends more than ₹20,000 crore in two instalments to pay 50 per cent of the pending DA, it would not be able to offer anything to the poor people ahead of the polls.

“This is why the state sought the additional time before the Supreme Court,” said an official aware of the development.

Earlier in the day, the Confederation had served a legal notice on chief secretary Manoj Pant and state finance secretary Prabhat Kumar Mishra, asking them to implement the Supreme Court order within a week as the deadline to clear the 25 per cent due DA ended on Friday.