Kolkata, May 17 (IANS) The West Bengal Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and BJP leader, Suvendu Adhikari, has alleged that the West Bengal government under the leadership of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had spent more than Rs 200 crore over legal expenses to deprive the state government of their legitimate dearness allowance (DA) dues.

On Friday, the Supreme Court’s division bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Manoj Mishra directed the state government to clear 25 per cent of the pending dearness allowance dues to the government employees of the state within the next four weeks, following which the matter will be heard again.

“The state government employees had undergone a prolonged struggle to get their legitimate dues. After the Tribunal and Calcutta High Court had given direction in favour of the state government employees, the state government, instead of abiding with those directions, dragged the matter to the Supreme Court. The state government knew that their special leave petition in the matter at the apex court will not be fruitful. Still they spent more than Rs 200 crore behind legal expenses to unnecessarily drag the matter. The same amount could be used to setting up of at least 10 new hospitals or 200 new schools,” LoP Adhikari said at a press conference on Friday afternoon.

He also added that the state government is fortunate that the apex court finally directed it to pay only 25 per cent of the dearness allowance dues within the next four weeks.

“Initially, the apex court directed the state government to pay 50 per cent of the dues immediately. But later following the desperate plea from the state government counsel, the apex court compassionately directed payment of just 25 per cent in next four weeks,” LoP Adhikari said.

The Joint Forum of State Government Employees, the umbrella body of different state government employees’ associations, which had been spearheading the movement in the matter for a long time, welcomed the apex court’s order on Friday and said that the development was a tight slap on the face of the state government.

“We are now scheduled to get 25 per cent of our dearness allowance dues within the next four weeks. We are confident that finally we will be getting all our dues on this count,” the joint forum convener Bhaskar Ghosh said on Friday.

At present, West Bengal government employees receive dearness allowances at the rate of just 18 per cent, as against 55 per cent received by their counterparts in the Union government and even many other state governments.

As per initial calculation payment of 25 per cent dues within the next four weeks will result into an immediate drain-out of around Rs 12,000 crore from the state exchequer.

–IANS

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