New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) The Punjab government has moved the Supreme Court challenging a high court order directing it to release all pending dearness allowance and dearness relief dues to state employees and pensioners within a fortnight, contending that the direction to pay arrears totalling around Rs 14,191 crore in such a short period was constitutionally impossible.
The special leave petition filed by the additional chief secretary in the finance department challenges the August 3 judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which directed payment of the pending dues at rates applicable for officers of the All India Services serving in the state.
“Compliance is not merely difficult; it is constitutionally impossible in the time allowed. According to Article 266(3), no money may be appropriated from the consolidated fund of a state except in the manner provided by the Constitution, and that manner is Articles 202 to 206,” the plea said.
The high court also directed that the state would have to pay 6 per cent simple interest in case of default and restrained it from incurring “unproductive” expenditure until the dues were cleared.
In its plea before the Supreme Court, the Punjab government argued that its rules do not mandate payment of dearness allowance (DA) to state employees at the rate fixed by the Centre for its employees.
It said the Punjab Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2021, prescribe no specific index, formula, rate or interval for DA and leave the matter to the state government’s discretion.
The government has challenged the high court’s reliance on the DA paid to All India Services officers as a comparator for determining the entitlement of state employees.
It argued that the state pays DA to All India Services officers at the central rate because they are governed by Union law and the state has no power to determine their service conditions.
The plea also said that Punjab’s existing DA rate of 42 per cent already results in higher aggregate monthly emoluments than the corresponding Central categories in five of seven representative categories cited by the government.
“In five of the seven categories, the Punjab employee already draws more at the existing 42 per cent by between Rs 1,832 and Rs 17,852 a month; in the clerk and constable cadres, Punjab’s basic pay alone, Rs 38,600, exceeds the entire Central aggregate of basic pay and DA at 60 per cent, namely Rs 36,960,” the plea said.
“The only two categories presently short, superintendent by Rs 5,676 and police inspector by Rs 7,372, which the petitioner placed on record against its own interest, themselves move into surplus of Rs 4,800 and Rs 2,240,” it added.
It also contended that the high court’s direction to release the entire admitted arrears within 14 days cannot be implemented without following the constitutional procedure for withdrawal of money from the consolidated fund of the state.
The government said its Cabinet had approved a liquidation plan in February 2025 under which arrears of around Rs 14,191 crore were to be paid in phases over five financial years.
The plea also challenges the high court’s direction restraining the state from incurring unproductive expenditure, arguing that no such expenditure was pleaded or supported by evidence before the court.
The Punjab government urged the Supreme Court to set aside the high court judgment and restore its discretion to determine DA and the manner and timing of payment of arrears. PTI SKM ARI
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