Kolkata, Aug 4 The Supreme Court had realised the tactics of the West Bengal government to delay the hearing on a contempt-of-court petition against it for not complying by the apex court’s earlier order for payment of 25 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears to its employees by June 30, observed senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattachary on Monday.
Also a CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya is one of the counsels for the state government employees in the DA case.
On Monday, the matter came up for hearing at the apex court’s Division Bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, and at the beginning of the hearing, the state government’s counsel sought additional time to present his argument in the matter.
Initially, the Division Bench was disinclined to give additional time for hearing in the matter and insisted that the matter be heard on Monday only. However, later the Division Bench decided that the matter would be heard on Tuesday while rejecting the state government’s plea for fixing August 11 as the next date of hearing.
The Division Bench also questioned the rationale behind the plea from parties in the case to postpone the hearing to a further date.
Bikash Ranjan Bhattachary also questioned the contention of the Bengal government that although the apex court in its order had asked it to pay a certain percentage of the DA arrears to state government employees, it had not quantified the exact amount to be paid on this count.
“The court is supposed to pass a verdict as per existing legal provisions. The task of the court is not to quantify. At the same time, it is also not the court's headache to decide who would quantify the amount. Their attempt was to delay the hearing in the matter as far as possible. They know very well that ultimately if the state government employees win, the administration will have to pay 100 per cent of the Dearness Allowance arrears,” Bikash Ranjan Bhattachary explained.
As per the state government’s submission to the apex court, a committee has been formed, which is evaluating the exact amount to be paid to the employees as per the Supreme Court order.
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