DA hike: Will implement 7th pay commission, bridge dearness allowance gap with Centre this fiscal, says West Bengal CM

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari stated that the government aims to implement 7th pay commission this fiscal, bridge the salary gap between its state and central government employees with a dearness allowance (DA) hike, and clear arrears, according to a PTI report.

Addressing an event on 21 July, Adhikari said terms of reference (ToR) for the 7th CPC have already been prepared and would be constituted once finalised. “We are trying to implement the 7th CPC within the current financial year,” he said.

The BJP-led government commissioned the state’s 7th CPC in May after being elected into power in West Bengal, it added.

‘Committed to narrow DA gap with Centre’

Also speaking at the event, the CM said that the state is committed to narrowing DA gap with the Centre but will not make abrupt revisions.

The West Bengal government last month revised DA up by 20 percentage points for state government employees, taking the component to 38% of basic pay. This announcement came in the new government’s first state budget on 22 June.

“We will gradually bridge the gap between the Centre and the state in DA. Some of you may have expected that we would announce a 42% DA in one go. There were also reports on social media that we would announce a 10% hike. We did neither. We calculated it carefully and will bridge the difference gradually,” Adhikari stated.

On clearance of pending arrears, he assured that state government employees would receive their dues in time. Notably, state government employees’ organisations in West Bengal have been demanding the constitution of a new pay commission and payment of pending DA for several years.

On 6th pay commission delays

Further, speaking at the event, the chief minister recalled the implementation of the 6th CPC in the state and alleged that the previous government (headed by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee) had delayed its report because of financial constraints.

“The Avirup Sarkar Committee was constituted in 2015 while I became a minister the next year. In 2019, I raised the issue of the panel’s report with the then chief minister. She said the finance minister had informed her that the commission’s report was not ready. I said the finance minister was wrong and asked her to speak to the commission chairman, who maintained that the finance minister had asked him not to submit the report because there was no money. I requested that it be released. Eventually, you received the 6th pay commission in 2020, but DA had been withdrawn,” he claimed.

Referring to the legal battle over DA, Adhikari said, “Later, the matter went to the Supreme Court, where I too had a small role. We are also examining the issues of those who are paid through third-party arrangements.”

Significance of 20% pay hike for Bengal employees

The hike last month was significant. While West Bengal state employees and pensioners are still covered by the 5th and 6th CPCs (with much lower salaries, in comparison), central government employees and pensioners are covered by the 7th CPC, which offers a different pay structure and increases pay.

Further, with the 8th CPC underway, there are also concerns that the salary gap will widen even more. The announcement in June narrowed the gap between the DA received by state and central government employees by 22 percentage points, significantly down from the previous gap of 42 percentage points between the two.

DA hike: 7th state pay commission formed

Earlier in May, the state government approved formation of the 7th state CPC to decide salary and DA hikes at a Cabinet meeting on 18 May, chaired by Adhikari at Nabanna, the West Bengal state secretariat.

According to the state Women, Child and Social Welfare Minister Agnimitra Paul, the state’s 7th CPC will consider an upward revision of salaries of employees. She added that the scope of a pay hike would also extend to staff of statutory entities such as civic bodies, local bodies and education boards, as well as those working in state-run education institutions, as per another PTI report.