A Supreme Court division bench on Thursday ordered the Mamata Banerjee government to clear 25 per cent of the dearness allowance due to the state government employees by March 31.

The order from the division bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra came on the same day when the vote-on-account of the state government will be placed in the state Assembly. As the state Assembly elections are approaching, the budget for the state government will be placed after the results are declared.

The bench also ordered the state government to constitute a four-member committee to decide on the remaining 75 per cent of DA.

The same bench had in August last year reserved its judgement in the case.

In an interim order passed on May 16, last year the apex court had directed the state government to pay 25 per cent of the dearness allowance to its employees “within three months.”

The Mamata Banerjee government later pleaded with the SC to extend the deadline by six months citing funds constraint.

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said the SC order had secured the fundamental rights of the state government employees.

“Mamata Banerjee has been proved wrong today. For years she claimed DA was not a right. The apex court has said DA is not a grant. Despite multiple legal battles which the employees won every time, the state government went on spending crores on hiring legal luminaries to deprive the employees,” Suvendu said.

Since 2022 onwards there have been 18 adjournments on the issue after the Mamata Banerjee government filed an appeal against a contempt proceedings initiated by the Calcutta High Court.

An earlier bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Mehta had passed the interim order, bringing to a temporary halt the tantalising wait of the employees who endured 18 adjournments on the issue after the Mamata government filed an appeal in 2022 challenging the contempt proceedings initiated against it before Calcutta. The Confederation of State Government Employees and others challenged the state’s refusal to clear the dues.

Since April 1, 2025 the dearness allowance for Bengal government employees was fixed at 18 per cent of the basic salary in last year's state budget proposals. The gap between the central employees and the state is around 40 per cent.