West Bengal warns of salary deduction for govt employees skipping March 13 strike

The West Bengal government has warned state employees that salary will be deducted if they remain absent from duty on March 13, when a section of government staff has called a strike to protest the non-payment of pending dearness allowance (DA) arrears.

Officials said all state government offices will remain open and attendance will be mandatory on the day. Employees who fail to report for work without valid reasons will be marked as “dies non,” meaning the day will not be counted as service and salary for that day will be deducted.

Authorities clarified that exemptions will be allowed only in specific situations such as serious illness, hospitalisation of the employee or a family member, death in the family, maternity leave, or previously sanctioned leave . Employees absent without permission will be asked to explain their absence. If the explanation is not satisfactory, leave may be denied and disciplinary action initiated.

Departments have been instructed to complete attendance verification and submit reports on the action taken by March 30. The strike has been called by Sangrami Joutha Mancha , a platform of agitating employees demanding payment of DA arrears. Leader Bhaskar Ghosh criticised the state government , saying that while the rest of the country follows the law laid down by the Supreme Court of India, decisions in West Bengal are being driven by a single authority.

The dispute over pending DA payments stems from a long-standing demand by state government employees to align West Bengal’s DA rates with those given to central government staff. Employee unions say the state has been paying significantly lower DA, leading to a large gap and accumulation of arrears.

The matter reached the courts after employees sought legal intervention. The Calcutta High Court ruled that DA is a legal right of government employees and directed the state to clear the dues. Challenging the order, the state government approached the Supreme Court of India.

On February 5, a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Manoj Misra ruled that DA is a legal right and directed the state to pay 25 per cent of the arrears in two instalments by May, with the first instalment due by March 31. The court also appointed a committee headed by former judge Indu Malhotra to determine the schedule for payment of the remaining dues.

The state government has told the apex court that records of more than 3.17 lakh employees need verification before payments can be processed. Officials said many pre-2016 records exist only in handwritten service books, making digitisation and verification necessary before the arrears can be calculated and disbursed.

The DA issue has become a major political flashpoint in West Bengal, with opposition parties accusing the government of delaying payments and the ruling administration citing financial and administrative challenges in implementing the court’s order.