Dangling DA in West Bengal: Denial of Constitutional Obligation

This blog intended to take a comprehensive approach with the help of facts, figures and explanations to answer many pertaining queries regarding why Dearness Allowance of West Bengal Government Employees would have to be remitted by the Government of West Bengal under any circumstances, what could be the probable pertaining arguments by West Bengal Government against it and the counter-arguments thereof. A sincere research based on authentic numerical data & qualitative information. As GoWB employees are fighting their case in the Court of Law, this blog is aimed to help their cause. Figures of comparative performances of different States have been taken from budget analysis of corresponding States as available in public domain,

1 : Preface

The Dearness Allowance Case of West Bengal Government employees is being fought tooth and nail in the Court of Law by the employees since 2016 or even earlier. The least to be said about the State Government is that they are behaving adamant to treat dearness allowance as ex-gratia payment while DA, in reality, is an integral part of the salary, remitted time to time as the price rise adjustment factor. DA is supposed to be remitted at a predictably regular interval based on consumer price index calculation, and is supposed to be computed based on a definite mathematical formula as a percentage of the basic salary.

West Bengal Govt, from 2012, remitted DA whimsically as if depending on good mood of the employer. Such attitude reflected that of a feudal lord while Govt of a democracy had no legitimate scope to behave in this manner. Government being not an individual but a collective entity comprising all the people of the State including its employees as well, Government’s display of whims and mood swings like a pregnant or peri-menopausal woman appeared to have no legitimacy. Individuals can be mood-driven, not a Government as Government being the combined entity of around 10.19 Crores population of West Bengal, doesn’t and cannot have a persona.

While dearness allowance is purely a ratio related to price index rendering a measure of the cost of living in a particular place, West Bengal government remitted DA in a manner of ex-gratia payment defying the core characteristic of DA. The State remitted it once a year up to 2021 & the amount varied unpredictably and erratically, mathematics whereof was never provided by the State in its long-lasting fight in the Court of Law. The petitioners on behalf of the employees too never asked the Government representatives to provide their mathematical basis of DA remittance. This must be done by the petitioners in the Court. The Finance Secretary and the Chief Secretary must present the mathematics behind their DA remittance.

 

2: DA: Valid Mathematical Computation Must Appear Clear

DA is a component of the salary that cannot be remitted without presenting the mathematical computation of it. Hence, DA is completely predictable and varies as & when the price index changes. As Government of India publishes monthly price index, DA component of Government employees’ salary remains fully predictable. Looking at the variation pattern of price index, DA can be exactly plotted along the timeline. Such DA thing, in West Bengal, went arbitrary, mathsless, schizophrenic and infinitely lethargic.

 

3: Isn’t Government’s Affordability a Factor?

Depending on affordability of the Government, the State can defer the payment of the price rise adjustment factor called DA for some reasonable time period and for a reasonable cause. For example, the Central Finance Ministry froze the Dearness Allowance (DA) to the Central government employees from January 2020 up to January 2021 due to crisis arising out of Covid Pandemic. Central Government declared to freeze the 3 instalments remittable in January 2020, July 2020 & January 2021. However, it resumed DA payment, as announced in their order, from July 2021. “As and when the decision to release the future instalment of DA and DR due from July 1, 2021, is taken by the government, the rates of DA and DR as effective from January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021, will be restored prospectively. They will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rate effective from July 1, 2021. However, no arrears for the period from January 1, 2020, till June 30, 2021, will be paid, according to the Department of Expenditure’s order.” Reported ‘The Hindu’. It has to be noted that such freeze was depending on Government’s lack of affordability for a reasonable cause and a reasonable time period which was pre-declared & predictable. Central Government resumed DA payment from July 2021 at the then revised rate subsuming the rates of the 3 unpaid instalments. However, Government cannot remit DA at a lesser rate or a greater rate (if they can’t present the mathematical computation thereof), nor can it defer such payment for extraordinarily long period, as unusual deferment implies non-remittance of the price rise adjustment factor (DA) at the time when that level of price rise was affecting the employees.

 

4: Private Corporates Don’t Pay DA. Why Government?

Private Corporates have no control on market activities and price rise. However, as Government cannot rule out their responsibility behind price rise, DA remittance is Government's compulsion. While private corporates have no control on price of goods and rise thereof, Government is liable to take every measure to prevent & contain price rise. If price of commodities rises in spite of Governmental initiatives, it’s logical to hold it as the Government’s failure. This is why DA remittance is Government’s obligation irrespective of affordability. Government has to pay for its own failure to contain price rise while private corporates do not logically have such obligation.

5: Why DA must be given? Why Don’t Government Employees Leave the Job & Join Elsewhere the Way Private Corporate Employees Do?

As the Government employees are employed in a closed set organization beyond which there’s no other scope for them to be employed, serving their interest is the collective duty and responsibility of all the people of the State combined. Such collective self of people is otherwise known as the Government which must serve its employees’ interests. In case of private corporates, employees with the same required skill set & job responsibility may shift in similar jobs from one company to another. For Government employees, it is impossible to shift to another organization requiring the same skill set offering the same job responsibilities because in case of Government employees, the employing organization is Government itself and in the same place more than one Government of the same function doesn’t exist. 2 or more West Bengal Governments doesn’t exist in West Bengal. Hence, employees of West Bengal Government don’t have scope to shift to the 2^nd or 3^rd or 4^th West Bengal Government for being better placed. This is why it is mandatory for West Bengal Government to pay them their dues.

 

6: West Bengal Government Was Not a Gross DA Defaulter till 2012

Till 2012, West Bengal Government remitted DA predictably at the same rate as given by the Central Government. The State, however, remitted it after a reasonable delay post the Central Government’s remittance of a particular instalment. The State delayed, on an average, by 9 months – 21 months to pay the same instalment to the State employees. From 2008 onwards GOWB was tending to reduce the time lag between Central remittance & its own. However, after January 2012, DA started behaving in a weird manner in West Bengal reflecting, as if, a specific person’s mood. This time onwards DA assumed the face of ex-gratia payment and didn’t retain the characteristic of DA any more. People tend to relate such defaulting attitude to West Bengal Chief Minister while it is unlikely to be attributable to her as DA behaved predictably till January 2012 while she rose to the seat of power in May 2011. H. K. Dwivedi, however, joined as Finance Secretary in 2012 post which not only DA started behaving unlike DA but also additional loan burden from Asian Development Bank against unknown conditions started cumulating upon the already-burdened Public Treasury of West Bengal. From 2012-2017, the West Bengal Government took loan from foreign bank ADB in which Central Government didn’t appear as guarantor. Loan conditions, thus, remained unknown to the people of West Bengal as yet. Dwivedi regime is not beyond questions. Careful study shows West Bengal’s economic backbone was decisively broken during his unusually long regime (2012-2020) as Finance Secretary. Before H. K. Dwivedi, no one served as Finance Secretary for as long as 8 years in the History of West Bengal but let us not move away from the DA issue. West Bengal Government started defaulting DA payment from after 2012. Before going to the pattern of default by GOWB, it seems necessary to build a fair idea about price index & its role in DA payment. After understanding DA theoretically, it may be appealing for some to understand it mathematically too. However, grasping the concept of price index is a prerequisite to comprehend the mathematical concept & computation of DA.

 

7: What is Price Index? What is All India Consumer Price Index Number AICPIN?

Generally speaking, Price Index is a ratio between the price of some commodity during a particular period and the price of the same commodity at an earlier base period. Given the prices of a group of items in the years 2022 & 2016 if we ask the question “how does the overall price in 2022 compare with that in 2016— how many times or what percent?” the answer would be a number which will be called an index number.

Amongst the index numbers, there are different types of indices like price index, quantity index, cost of living index etc. While the price index represents the ratio of prices keeping the quantity constant, the quantity index numbers indicate the ratio of quantities keeping the price constant. The Cost of living indices are the most practical form of expression of inflation or deflation when both the prices as well as quantities vary over time.

The consumer price index number, CPIN, for industrial workers is being compiled by the Labour Bureau under the Government of India and is the most well accepted cost of living index in India. Just before the recent shift in the base period to the year 2016, AICPIN (All India Consumer Price Index Number) considered the year 2001 as base. Thus, the expression “the AICPIN for the month of January 2015 was 254 with base 2001” means the cost of living during January 2015 was 2.54 times i.e. 254% of the average cost of living in the year 2001 keeping the standard of living & consumption pattern unaltered. Similarly, the expression “the AICPIN for the month of December 2015 was 269 with base 2001” means the cost of living during December 2015 was 2.69 times i.e. 269% of the average cost of living in the year 2001 keeping the standard of living & consumption pattern unaltered. As this AICPIN is published on a monthly basis by the Labour Bureau, the average AICPIN for any year is calculated as the simple average of the 12 monthly AICPINs of the previous year. Thus, the average AICPIN for 2016 is nothing but the simple average of the 12 monthly AICPINs published for the month of January 2015 to December 2015. This figure incidentally comes out to be 261.42.

Now it is also required to understand why the base year for calculating AICPIN (or for the matter of fact any ‘cost of living’ index CLI) are shifted from time to time. This is done to accommodate the fact that with passage of time, the standard of living and/or the consumption patterns of any particular society keep(s) on changing. From generation to generation as well as due to the outcome of technological advancements, choices of people change resulting in such changes in consumption patterns & standard of living. But as it has already been discussed, as long as the base year remains constant, any formula for calculating CLI (including AICPIN) presumes the consumption patterns to remain unaltered. Hence, to provide for the changing consumption patterns it becomes necessary to shift the old base period to a more modern time as base.

In India, though 2001 was considered as base for calculating AICPIN since long, only recently this base has been shifted to the year 2016. It has been said just in the previous paragraph that the average AICPIN for the year 2016 was 261.42. Hence, the AICPIN with base 2016 should be nothing other than 100/261.42 that is 1 divided by 2.6142 of the AICPIN of the same period with base 2001. This 2.6142 is supposed to be the fitment factor for change of base from 2001 to 2016. But in reality, due to the change of consumption pattern and standard of living this fitment factor usually does not remain exactly equal to the aforesaid ratio of the new and old base periods but has to be recalculated. If the standard of living in general gets better, this fitment factor becomes more than this ratio while if the recalculated fitment factor is found to be less than this ratio then that indicates a reduction in standard of living. In case of AICPIN, the fitment factor for change of base from 2001 to 2016 has actually been calculated to be 2.88 which being more than 2.6142 (the ratio of average AICPINs of 2016 and 2001) which indicates that the average standard of living in India has improved in 2016 over what it was in 2001. That is quite understandable when we notice that in 2001, people’s expenditure on electronic gadgets were less than that in 2016 and expenditure on mobile phones was almost zero. In 2016 such expenditure grew altering the general consumption pattern & standard of living of people considering which 2.88 was calculated to be the fitment factor instead of 2.6142.  Thus, when it’s said that “the AICPIN for the month of January 2021 was 118.2 with base 2016” it means the cost of living during January 2021 was 1.182 times i.e. 118.2% of the average cost of living in the year 2016 keeping the standard of living & consumption pattern unaltered between 2021 and 2016. But it has been seen that the average AICPIN for 2016 was 261.42 which again means that the average cost of living in 2016 was 2.6142 times i.e. 261.42% of the average cost of living in the year 2001 keeping the standard of living & consumption pattern unaltered between 2016 and 2001. Thus the AICPIN for the month of January 2021 with base 2001 must be 118.2 multiplied by 2.6142 = 309 keeping the standard of living & consumption pattern unaltered since 2001. But it has already been observed that the cost of living and consumption pattern have already changed between 2001 & 2016 and accordingly has accepted the fitment factor to be 2.88 instead of 2.6142. Hence, the AICPIN for the month of January 2021 with base 2001 must be (118.2 multiplied by 2.88 =) 340 keeping the standard of living & consumption pattern of 2021 (which is the same as in 2016) applied on the prices of 2001 as well. Now, it can be safely presumed that we have gained a fair idea about what AICPIN means. Keeping this in mind, method of DA computation with respect to AICPIN may be discussed in brevity. Before proceeding further, however, it needs to be remembered that average AICPIN of 2006 was 115.76 and the average AICPIN for 2016 was 261.42.

One can find list of monthly AICPINs as published by the Labour Bureau of India in this link.

http://labourbureaunew.gov.in/UserContent/indtab.html

8: How is DA Computed Based on AICPIN?

The 6^th Pay Commission of the Central Government was made effective from 2006. Hence, all the DA rates declared by the Central Government of India during the prevalence of that pay commission was calculated as a percentage of the cost of living during 2006. The established norm was that the average AICPIN for 12 months from January to December of any particular year (adjusted w.r.t the average AICPIN of 2006) was taken into consideration for determination of the dearness allowance percentage payable from the next month i.e. from the month of January the following year. Again, the average AICPIN of 12 months starting from the month of July of that particular year (as discussed in the immediately last sentence herein) up to the month of June the following year (again adjusted w.r.t the average AICPIN of 2006) were considered for revising the DA percentage to be paid from the next month i.e. July of that particular “following year”. Thus, the formula for calculating DA payable from the month of January 2012 was (Average AICPIN from January 2011 to December 2011 minus 115.76) divided by 115.76 and multiplied by 100,

i.e. ((191.5 – 115.76)/115.76)*100

because average AICPIN from January 2011 to December 2011 was indeed 191.5.

i.e. 65.43 which when lower rounded off, comes out to be 65.

Accordingly, the Central Government of India announced DA payable to its employees from the month of January 2012 to be exactly 65%.

Again, after six months, when AICPIN for the month of June 2012 became available and it became possible to calculate the average AICPIN from July 2011 to June 2012 (which actually came out to be 199.58), the Central Government of India revised the DA payable to its employees from the month of July 2012 from 65% to be 72%, and nothing more or nothing less, because –

((199.58 – 115.76)/115.76)*100

= 72.41 which when lower rounded off, comes out to be 72.

Thus, throughout the prevalence of the effect of their 6^th Pay Commission, the Central Government of India kept on revising the DA payable to its employees regularly at an interval of six months (once with effect from January and again with effect from July every year) following this exact formula. Thus, there was nothing other than sheer mathematics, no question of whims or fancies or affordability remained involved at the time of announcement of DA payable by the Central Government of India to its employees. This is where the Government of West Bengal missed out from after January 2012.

 

9: Pattern of DA Payment by West Bengal Government

YEAR	MONTH	CENTRAL	STATE	GAP		Pay Com	RATES	YEAR	MONTH	YEAR	MONTH	GAP
		RATES	RATES	RATES				CENTRAL	CENTRAL	STATE	STATE	MONTHS
2006	July	2		2		6th/5th	2	2006	July	2008	April	21
2007	January	6		6			6	2007	January	2008	June	18
	July	9		9			9	2007	July	2008	November	16
2008	January	12		12			12	2008	January	2009	March	14
	April		2	10			16	2008	July	2009	April	9
	June		6	6			22	2009	January	2009	December	11
	July	16		10			27	2009	July	2010	April	9
	November		9	7			35	2010	January	2010	October	9
2009	January	22		13			45	2010	July	2012	January	18
	March		12	10			51	2011	January			N.A.
	April		16	6			52			2013	January	N.A.
	July	27		11			58	2011	July	2014	January	30
	December		22	5			65	2012	January	2015	January	36
2010	January	35		13			72	2012	July			N.A.
	April		27	8			75			2016	January	N.A.
	July	45		18			80	2013	January			N.A.
	October		35	10			85			2017	January	N.A.
2011	January	51		16			90	2013	July			N.A.
	July	58		23			100	2014	January	2018	January	48
2012	January	65	45	20			107	2014	July			N.A.
	July	72		27			113	2015	January			N.A.
2013	January	80	52	28			119	2015	July			N.A.
	July	90		38			125	2016	January	2019	January	36
2014	January	100	58	42		7th/6th	2	2016	July			N.A.
	July	107		49			3			2021	January	N.A.
2015	January	113	65	48			4	2017	January
	July	119		54			5		July
2016	January	125	75	50			7	2018	January
	July	2 (132)		57			9		July
2017	January	4 (136)	85	51			12	2019	January
	July	5 (139)		54			17		July
2018	January	7 (142)	100	42			21	2020	January
	July	9 (148)		48			24		July
2019	January	12 (154)	125	29			28	2021	January
	July	17 (164)		39			31		July
2020	January	21	0	21			34	2022	January
	July	24	0	24			38		July
2021	January	28	3	25
	July	31		28				=>	On the basis of AICPIN
2022	January	34		31				=>	On unknown basis / Whimsical
	July	38		35

 

One can observe in the table on the righthand side that till January 2012, West Bengal Government remitted DA at the same rates as that of the Central Government albeit with some delay which couldn’t be marked as unreasonable. Starting from July 2006, GoWB remitted initially after 1 year 9 months of the Centre’s remittance of the same instalment while they gradually reduced the time lag. Coming to 2010, GoWB reduced the time lag to 9 months. After 9 months of the Centre’s payment of DA at the rate of 35% with effect from January 2010, GoWB paid the same 35% DA from October 2010. Though in the meantime from July 2010, the Central Government announced another instalment of 10% DA, thus revising the DA for their employees from 35% to 45%. Going by the norm of a delay of 9 to 10 months, the employees of the Government of West Bengal could expect that instalment from sometimes around April or May 2011. But as 2011 was the election year, GoWB didn’t understandably remit any DA instalment at that time. In January 2012, GoWB paid that instalment of 10% DA, thus revising the DA rate from 35% to 45% which was paid by the Central Government in July 2010, again increasing the gap to 1 year 6 months. In January 2013, GOWB first remitted an instalment which didn’t match the Centre’s percentage. Central Government remitted 51% DA in January 2011 while GOWB remitted a 52% in January 2013. The time lag increased to 2 years & the % went erratic. This was the first ever sign of GoWB going rabid with respect to DA remittance. Again, in July 2012, Centre remitted 72%, while GoWB remitted 75% 3 years 6 months later. Whimsical remittance continued & the time lag went on increasing denying the basic characteristic of DA and its indispensability for the employees. As Central Government paid 80% in January 2013, West Bengal Government paid unexplained 85% 4 years later in January 2017. No one, as yet, has asked GoWB their basis for calculating such percentages which differed from those of the Centre. This mathematics is inevitable as DA is invariably a mathematical component, and not a whimsical ex-gratia component, of employees’ salary.

10: Is It Necessary for West Bengal Government to Remit DA at the Central Rate?

Not at all. As DA is based on consumer price index, West Bengal can remit DA as per the State’s own CPIN if such CPINs have been calculated following an accepted mathematical basis and published from time to time so far. However, if state specific CPIN is not available for West Bengal (the way AICPINs are published by the Labour Bureau all through) and if the formula to calculate such West Bengal specific CPIN have not been derived, checked & verified, West Bengal DA has to be remitted based on AICPIN. The set West Bengal being a part of the bigger set India, it has to remit DA based on All India CPIN in absence of WBCPIN. However, as DA is 100% related to consumer price index & price index depends on inflation, West Bengal Government employees were supposed to get a rate of DA higher than that of the Central Government employees had WBCPIN remained in existence. This is because rate of inflation in West Bengal has almost consistently been 2.5% higher than the average National rate of inflation (probable reason thereof has been elucidated later). However, even if WBCPIN is made available now, it would be evasive and manipulative of West Bengal Government to challenge the directive of the 5^th Pay Commission for GoWB employees to remit DA as per Central rate as it was not available at the time of the recommendation by the 5^th Pay Commission in 2009. It is unfortunate that the Finance Secretary West Bengal, in his affidavit to the Calcutta High Court on November 9, 2022 had expected the Hon’ble Court to calculate the dearness allowance payable to GoWB employees based on AICPI. If the Court had to calculate DA, the real reason behind West Bengal Government’s payment of hefty monthly sum to Shri Abhirup Sarkar (brother-in-law of Alapan Bandyopadhyay) as the Chairman of the 6^th Pay Commission for GoWB employees remained unclear. Shri Sarkar, for all practical purposes, copied & pasted the report of the 7^th Pay Commission of the Government of India and took 4 years for such copying and pasting while his real job was to calculate the DA for all GoWB employees belonging to different salary slabs based on their basic pays. Who wanted to pay large sum of money for 4 years to Abhirup Sarkar and why did Shri Sarkar agree to accept such monthly sum remains opaque. Moreover, while the 5^th Pay Commission for West Bengal Government employees could submit their report within 5 months 15 days after its formation, the 6^th Pay Commission chaired by Abhirup Sarkar took 4 years. Such unusual delay was reflective of either West Bengal Government’s lack of intention to take the report or Shri Abhirup Sarkar’s inefficiency as chairman.

11. Why did the West Bengal Government Claim before the Hon’ble Court that No DA remained Pending for the West Bengal Employees?

To understand why GoWB said so, referring to the report of the 5^th Pay Commission led by Shri Satyendranath Ghosh is required. That Pay Commission was constituted on 28.08.2008 and it submitted its reports within 5 months 15 days on 12.02.2009 while GoWB implemented it within 11 days through a memorandum (memo. no. 1691-F) dated 23.02.2009. Though notional effect was granted from 01.01.2006, the GoWB announced no arrear payment would be remitted till 31.03.2008, hence, no question of remitting any DA arose till that date. Real effect of the Pay Commission came into being from 01.04.2008. On the same 23.02.2009, GoWB declared through another memorandum (memo no. 1692-F) that DA would be remitted gradually in instalments from 01.04.2008 to 01.04.2009 so that from 01.04.2009 the State Government employees could also receive DA at the rate of 16%.

In this connection it may be noted that on 23.02.2009 the DA rate applicable for the Central Government Employees was also the same 16%. Parts of the memorandum are quoted herein below:

ROPA: memorandum no. 1691-F dated 23.02.2009.

Subject: Clarificatory memorandum on the West Bengal Services (Revision of Pay & Allowance) Rules, 2009 & on allied matters dealt with by the Fifth Pay Commission

Serial No. 10. Dearness Allowance- “Consequent upon revision of pay of Government Employees in accordance with the West Bengal (Revision of Pay & Allowance) Rules, 2009, the Dearness Allowance to which a Government Employee is entitled from time to time since the 1^st day of January, 2006 needs to be related to pay in the revised pay structure. Necessary Government Order in this regard has been issued with Finance Department Memo. No. 1692-F dated the 23^rd February, 2009.”

12: What was written in the GoWB Finance Department Memo. No. 1692-F?

Subject: Drawal of Dearness Allowance in the revised pay structure under the West Bengal (Revision of Pay & Allowance) Rules, 2009,

Serial No. 3. “Accordingly the Governor is pleased to decide that the Dearness Allowance payable to a Government Employee with effect from 1^st April, 2008, shall be at the following rates.

1.4.2008 – 31.5.2008 @ 2%

1.6.2008 – 31.10.2008 @ 6%

1.11.2008 – 25.2.2009 @ 9%

1.3.2009 – 31.3.2009 @ 12%

1.4.2009 onwards @ 16%”

However, only 18 days after this memorandum was published (on 13.03.2009) Government of India increased the rate of DA payable to their employees from 16% to 22% with effect from 01.01.2009 vide their memorandum no 1(1)/2009-E-II(B). However, from the process it is evident that as it was not known to GoWB on 23.02.2009 when would the Government of India increase the DA rate again for their employees with effect from which date and how much such increment would be, GoWB fixed the highest rate of DA at 16% at the time of publishing their own memorandum. They fixed it exactly at 16% because on that specific date that was the existing DA rate for Central Government employees. From this it’s hardly difficult to comprehend that while announcing DA for their employees the GoWB always followed the Central rate though the implementation was often delayed for some months.

Why then, West Bengal Government claimed before the Hon’ble Court that no DA remained pending for the GoWB Employees? As discussed above, it can be observed that the maximum DA rate mentioned clearly in the said memo no. 1692-F was indeed 16% and it is also true that GoWB has actually paid DA at that rate of 16% & even more through their orders as announced from time to time till the current date. Thus, the GoWB tried to justify their non-remittance of DA by finding a loophole stating that they had already paid DA as was announced clearly in the said memorandum and no DA was pending. Such argument was a fraud argument as it contained a half-truth. Such dishonesty was primarily rooted at GoWB’s tactful & convenient approach to ignore the fact that the said memorandum no. 1692-F was actually published on 23.02.2009 whereon the DA rate for the Central Government Employees was also 16%. Thus, the GoWB memo 1692-F clearly indicated that while announcing DA for the State Government employees, it was mandatory to consider the corresponding Central rate of DA. Thus, the GoWB presented only half-truth before the Hon’ble Court.

GoWB suppressed another point of truth. The memorandum no. 1691-F dated 23.02.2009 (i.e. the document where anything about DA was mentioned under ROPA rules 2009), there were 5 points mentioned at the beginning as the reason for setting up such pay commission. The 5^th point thereof clearly stated-- “to make recommendations on each of the above having regards inter alia to the prevailing pay structure under the Central Government, public sector undertakings & other State Government etc…”. This implies that the very cause of framing the pay commission was to bring in a parity between the pay structures of the Central Government & GoWB. Suppressing this part, the GoWB rather emphasized the ending words of the same point that stated “…the resources of the State Government & the demands thereon on account of the commitment of the State Government to developmental activities.” In this fashion, the GoWB tried their best to interpret before the Hon’ble Court that as West Bengal Government was not left with enough resources after fulfilling their developmental commitments like fairs, games, festivals, etc. (non-committed revenue expenditure in reality), it was not possible for them to remit DA to their employees. This approach of suppressing a part of the fact to express some other to their own advantage speaks volumes about GoWB’s unfortunate and deceitful attitude. GoWB didn’t fail to manipulate and display double standards to fail their own commitment of 2009 and started remitting DA whimsically & insufficiently with the spirit of paying ex-gratia i.e. dole to their employees.

13: What Does Whimsical and Delayed Remittance of DA Signify?

Unusual delay in DA remittance signifies reduction of salary. With price rise, purchase power of basic salary reduces which is kept at the base level by remitting DA. Non-payment of DA means leading employees to eat lesser and lesser day by day & to live for shorter period as their salary goes insufficient with respect to their cost of living. This is why Calcutta High Court said it was a violation of the fundamental right to life of GoWB employees as per Article 21 of the Constitution of India. GoWB perhaps didn’t want to take away its employees’ right to life, but by not remitting DA, it effectively asked them to die. It’s like a slow poison.

14: Does Street Beggars Have a Choice but to Eat Less? Why Would Government Employees Have to Eat the Same Quantity All Through? Why Don’t They Happily Turn Poorer and Poorer?

Though this is no comparison as Government Employees cannot be compared with street beggars, this question may come to the minds of some who feel Government Employees don’t do anything fruitful except extracting money from public treasury. If Government of West Bengal too think in the same way, they need to adopt a straightforward & honest measure to lay off all their employees with all their dues as committed to them as per the service conditions of GoWB. Twitter could drive out Parag Agarwal because Elon Musk could pay him the committed sum of 4 Crore USD. Hadn’t Musk had required fund he wouldn’t have been able to get rid of so many employees of Twitter. Similarly, if GoWB is failing to lay off its employees due to lack of fund to pay off all dues of all its employees, burden of such failure can’t, legitimately, be imposed upon the employees. Such burden has to be borne by all the people of West Bengal. Government of West Bengal, in that case, needs to borrow money once and for all to pay off all dues of all employees and lay them off. Thereafter, the Government and the people of West Bengal can experience a life without Government employees. It would be a valuable learning experience for the people of the State to have a Government without employees. Instead, GoWB has taken an inhuman path of slow poisoning the employees.

 

15: How would Government Remit DA while It Doesn’t Have Fund?

If Government doesn’t have fund to pay its employees, Government needs to lay them off paying off all their dues including the arrear DA not remitted so long. In a Constitutional democracy, there exists no option for the Government to pay them whimsically less as that amounts to expecting unconditional slavery from the employees at the cost of their lives. However, to show that it is in fund crunch, a Government needs to exhibit due extent of fiscal discipline. Government’s fiscal policies need to reflect the same crisis while West Bengal Government’s budgetary expenditure reflected otherwise. In spite of being a State of primary deficit, West Bengal Government’s predominant fiscal approach has been distribution of doles & subsidies along with aggressive promotion of financial crimes within the State. West Bengal is witnessing tremendously massive amounts of financial crimes and it would be inexplicable naïveté to presume that such mammoth financial scams within the State could have happened without the active & passive participation of the Government machinery itself. While scams happened in the departments of different Ministers e.g. Education Ministry, Centre’s Grant in Cyclone Amphan Relief Fund and in various other social schemes too ended up being embezzled which was impossible without the direct participation of the Government machinery. Cyclone Amphan Relief Fund had been audited by CAG and was described to contain a “very large number of irregularities”. Moreover, West Bengal Government had taken no decisive steps to curb the trans-border smuggling and trafficking crimes of gigantic volumes till such crimes started being investigated by the CBI & the ED. As an economic outcome of so many scams and financial crimes, West Bengal turned into a large cash-based economy resulting in massive inflation & selective distribution of wealth.

It may be relevant to mention here that Niti Aayog’s assessment of sustainable development goals of 2021 had shown Kolkata and West Bengal to be a State of uneven distribution of wealth. While Kolkata secured a score of only 3 out of 100 in Niti Aayog‘s SDG Goal 8 i.e. “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, it secured 27 out of 100 in Goal 2 i. e. “Zero Hunger”. While Kolkata had no jobs & was very far away from collective hunger mitigation, certain individuals in the State had seized and hoarded cash and gold and countless properties in their own unholy grips. People started witnessing such hoards being unearthed by the ED in different places of Kolkata from July 2022 starting right from Partha Chatterjee’s place. Such facts clearly indicated selective distribution and accumulation of wealth in Kolkata giving rise to inflation at an artificially high rate. West Bengal’s rate of inflation has almost consistently been 2.5% higher than the National rate of inflation cause whereof is likely to be rooted in West Bengal’s fiscal indiscipline & crime-prone nature. In such a State of huge inflation, West Bengal Government is not remitting DA to Government employees who do not have scope to earn from any other sources as per law but have to maintain their responsibilities. Such people, no wonder, are feeling suffocated to live with underpayment. Many such employees, as a result, are resorting to unlawful malpractices and bribery adding further to inflation. As DA is 100% related to consumer price index & price index depends on inflation, West Bengal Government employees are ideally supposed to get a rate of DA higher than that of the Central Government employees as rate of inflation in West Bengal is higher than the average all India rate. However, even if not at a higher rate, they are supposed to get at least at the Central rate to be able to sustain in the cash heavy crime State of West Bengal.

16: Can’t the Government Employees Bear the Burden of a Fund-crunched State by Not Claiming DA?

Burden of a fund-crunched State has to be borne by all the people of the State, not the employees alone. The employees alone had been bearing such burden since 2012. Moreover, as per the reported inflation rate in West Bengal vis-à-vis all India, DA rate is ideally supposed to be higher in West Bengal than the Central rate. However, the West Bengal Government employees haven’t demanded a higher rate of DA than Central’s perhaps as a gesture to share the fund-crunched State’s burden.

 

17: As They Appear to Have Stolen & Embezzled the Fund, How Would West Bengal Government Arrange Fund for DA Remittance Now?

Government can. West Bengal’s budgetary planning didn’t reflect fund crunch as West Bengal Government allotted larger and larger amount under “non-committed revenue expenditure head” year after year. Over FY 20-21, the State allotted 36.68% growth in subsidies in FY 21-22 while it allotted another 14.8% growth in FY 22-23 over FY 21-22. Out of the 4 States declared financially ‘bimaru’ by RBI, West Bengal has registered highest growth in subsidies allotment in FY 21-22 over FY 20-21 as well as in FY 22-23 over FY 21-22. This means West Bengal Government didn’t practice fiscal restraint yet cried hoarse about fund crunch.

Non-committed Expenditure (REVDI) in Crores	20-21	21-22	Growth	22-23	Growth	Growth in 22-23 over 20-21
Punjab	28944	39306	35%	41492	5.56%	43.35%
Kerala	55800	56453	1.1%	62282	10%	11.61%
Rajasthan	79049	111775	41.4%	118804	6.2	50.29%
WestBengal	66085	90327	36.68%	103694	14.8%	56.91%

Had GoWB remitted subsidies i.e. non-committed revenue expenditure at the same rate in FY 21-22, as that of FY 20-21, the State could have remitted arrear DA in last financial year itself. In FY 21-22, GoWB allotted (90327 – 66085) Crores = 24242 Crores extra over FY 20-21. This amount was enough to remit arrear DA to all Government employees. In FY 22-23, GoWB allotted a further amount of (103694 – 90327) Crores = 13366 Crores subsidy over the amount it allotted in FY 21-22. This incremental amount too could have remitted half of the arrear DA of the Government employees. This indicates that the giant leaps Government of West Bengal had taken in budgeting for its non-committed revenue expenditures in two consecutive financial years, 21-22 & 22-23, were in itself almost enough for arrear DA remittance. Keeping dole distribution withheld for just one year, DA can be paid off. Once paying off the arrear DA, regular DA remittance won’t add more than just around a few thousand crores a financial year in salary & pension head which would be a miniscule amount compared to the doles that GoWB distributes every year, year after year.

18: If West Bengal Government Has to Remit the Balance 35% DA, How Is It Possible that Regular DA Remittance Won’t Add More Than Just Around A Few Thousand Crores A Financial Year In ‘Salary & Pension’ Head?

In FY 22-23, West Bengal Government has allotted 83522 Crores for salary & pensions, and is currently paying DA at a 3% rate while Central Government is remitting DA at a rate of 38%. As per figures, 35% of 83522 is equal to 29232.7 Crores. So, mathematically, West Bengal Government is supposed to require an additional 30 thousand crores to remit DA to West Bengal Government Employees at the rate of 38% every financial year. However, in reality, only a few thousand crores would be truly sufficient for annual DA remittance at 38% rate as out of all employees of GoWB, a large number are civic i.e. casual workers, contractual workers and ‘Karmabandhus.’ These categories of employees do not draw as per Government scale. ‘Karmabandhus’ draw about one third of what the civic workers draw and the civic workers draw around 8-9 thousand a month. This means DA won’t be payable to a large majority of workers who are being paid from the salary head of the account of West Bengal Government and that is why only a few additional thousand crores a year would suffice to remit the right rate of DA. This also means the Government of West Bengal is running with help of mercenaries and not with dedicated people. This explains the fall of law and order and the non-performance of the Government in different fields of operations e.g. Dengue Management.

19: Are There Any Other Ways for GoWB to Arrange for Fund?

There are other ways too. West Bengal Government couldn’t spend even 50% of its budgetary allocation for capital expenditure in FY 21-22, yet taken a 73% growth in this head of accounts in FY 22-23. That fund may be shifted to the committed revenue expenditure head for remitting arrear DA.

Capital Expenditure in Crores	20-21	21-22 Budgeted Estimates	21-22 Revised Estimates	Growth over 20-21	Growth over 21-22 BE	22-23 Budgeted Estimates	Growth (Estimated)
West Bengal	13034	32774	19175	47.11%	-41%	33144	73%

If, West Bengal Government budgets to grow optimistically by 50% in FY 22-23 in Capital Outlay Actuals over FY 21-22 RE, it needs to allot 28762 Crores in Capital Outlay and may take the rest (33144-28762) = 4381 Crores for committed revenue expenditure disbursements.

Government has to remit DA because it is GoWB's legal responsibility. Salary is a priority expenditure while dole distribution is a populist policy of the ruling political party. Government of West Bengal, however, has greater responsibility to act upon the Constitutional dictates protecting the fundamental rights of Government employees than to protect the ruling party’s populist interest. Getting dole, moreover, is no fundamental right of the State populace. While Manoj Pant, Finance Secretary of West Bengal indicated, in his affidavit to Calcutta High Court, that remitting DA would bring about catastrophic consequences to the State, non-remittance of DA for an unreasonably long period had already brought a much greater catastrophe. It is unfortunate & suspicious that Manoj Pant had failed to mark that catastrophe. Or, perhaps Pant meant that it would be a catastrophe if the GoWB had to pay the DA over and above the doles, indicating that GoWB had no way out but to distribute the doles committed by the CM by hook or by crook just to maintain the populist interest of the Supremo of the ruling political party who perhaps prefers to keep her political identity as ruling party Supremo above her constitutional identity as the CM of the State. Let us hope that the Finance Secretary of West Bengal didn’t mean anything such in his sworn affidavit before the Calcutta High Court because in that case it could amount to an official admittance that in the State of West Bengal, political interests are officially prioritized over constitutional obligations, indicating a total breakdown of constitutional machinery. Or did Manoj Pant mean that itself? Remitting non-committed revenue expenditure cannot be a commitment of the Government in reality.

20: As GoWB Has Been Habituated Paying Dole In Lieu of DA Money, How Can They Deprive the Dole Getters Now?

If so, then it is untruthful of GoWB to claim fund crunch. It is priority anomaly in reality & hence, illegal. Dole cannot be remitted at the cost of employees' salary as that would set a demonic trend of anarchy wherein violating limits of legitimacy would appear normal, thus changing a democracy into a demonocracy. The Constitution of India hasn’t created any room for such unlawful, chaotic practices.

 

21: Doesn’t West Bengal Have to Pay Huge Interest on Loan Taken So Far?

Truth is stranger than fiction, they say. Amongst the 4 States declared ‘bimaru’ by RBI, Kerala has to pay the maximum per capita interest followed by Punjab, West Bengal & Rajasthan in descending order. With respect to the State’s huge population of around 10.19 crore, West Bengal’s interest payment is not unusually big with respect to the other 3 loan burdened States of India.

Interest Expenditure Crores	20-21	21-22	Growth	22-23	Growth	Growth over 20-21	Population	Per Capita expenditure on Interest Rs.
Punjab	18153	19153	5.5%	20122	5.06%	10.85%	3.06 Crores	6,575.82
Kerala	20975	22115	5.43%	25966	17.41%	23.79%	35,330,888	7,349.38
Rajasthan	25201	28255	12.12%	28838	2.06%	14.43%	78,230,816	3,686.27
WestBengal	33782	36562	8.23%	39111	6.97%	15.77%	101,883,453	3,838.17

22: Isn’t West Bengal’s Loan Burden More as It Has to Pay a Huge Sum for Government Employees’ Salary? Do Other States Have to Spend This High in Salary?

Amongst the 4 ‘bimaru’ States, West Bengal registered the least growth year after year on account of salary & pension while West Bengal’s population is highest amongst the 4. West Bengal also spends the least in terms of per capita expenditure on Salary & Pension leaving its per capita salary expenditure unusually low as compared to West Bengal’s huge population while number of Government employees of a State should be directly proportional to the State’s population density. As a result, it may be observed, West Bengal is failing to perform in several fields, such as tackling the Dengue outbreak in the State.

Salary + Pension Expenditure Crores	20-21	21-22	Growth	22-23	Growth	Growth over 20-21	Population	Per Capita expenditure on Salary & Pension Rs.
Punjab	39249	43987	12.07%	46318	5.29%	18%	3.06 Crores	15,136.60
Kerala	46671	71235	52.63%	68815	-3.39%	47.44%	35,330,888	19,477.29
Rajasthan	74059	85091	14.9%	90824	6.74%	22.64%	78,230,816	11,609.75
West Bengal	78054	82106	5.19%	83522	1.72%	7%	101,900,000	8,196.46

23: “If You Pay Peanuts You’ll Get Monkeys”- “If You Appoint Civic Police You’ll Get Kaktaruas”-

Someone made a hilarious comment loaded with wit and satire about West Bengal’s civic police force describing them as scarecrows i.e. KAKTARUAS. As civic police look like policemen, people on their own get restrained, just the way crows get scared away spotting scarecrows on the field & thinking them to be live human beings. Let us discuss.

Almost the whole amount the Government of West Bengal pays to its civic workers and Karmabandhus is a wastage as a Rs. 3000.00 or a 9000.00 a month doesn’t meet up the requirement of the workers. Hence, they indulge in malpractices and dishonesty in the field of work compromising with the quality of services. Moreover, due to absence of the sanctioned strength of true Government employees in every field like health, education, rural development, urban development and municipal services etc., the existing miniscule number of true employees get unbearably overworked and indulge in rampant bribery & corruption to compensate their unreasonable workload. Such malpractices & bribery contribute to rising inflation in the State. Karmabandhus comprise the TMC workers and their family members. While names of all the 7 members of a TMC workers family may remain enrolled as Karmabandhu letting the family draw Rs.3000.00 x 7 = Rs. 21,000.00 a month, only one/two member would visit the work place to do his/their duties. Such Karmabandhus in different municipalities, allegedly, do not do their duties properly. As a result, West Bengal has performed awfully bad in various sectors such as waste management and other municipal services.

In September this year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a penalty of Rs. 3,500 crores on the West Bengal Government for the huge gap in solid and liquid waste generation and treatment. The green tribunal too had observed underutilization of budgeted fund for urban development and municipal affairs. NGT reprimanded that the GoWB didn’t ‘appear to be prioritizing for setting up of sewage and solid-waste management facilities’ in spite of having allocated 12819.99 crores for urban development in FY 22-23. The NGT noted that out of 2,758 million litres per day of sewage generation in urban areas and the treatment capacity of 1505.85 MLD (by setting up 44 sewage treatment plants), only 1,268 MLD is reported to be treated, leaving a huge gap of 1,490 MLD. It also said ‘being part of the right to life, which is also a basic human right and absolute liability of the State, lack of funds cannot be pleaded to deny such right.’ “While there may be no objection to any Central funds being availed, the State cannot avoid its responsibility or delay its discharge on that pretext,” NGT said. This shows that the Karmabandhus of the municipalities do not work. The State doesn’t have effective manpower to deliver its duties. And this, further, results in massive outbreaks of vector borne disease like Dengue every year and GoWB, instead of conducting their duties properly, keep on hiding its Dengue data from the Central Government.

As the majority of the casual, civic & contractual workers of West Bengal neither have eligibility nor efficiency nor temperament to deliver their duties properly, wage remittance for them, whatever be its total quantum, effectively turns into wastage of public money as in spite of the presence of these employees in pen and paper, the State Government is being slapped with massive penalties like Rs. 3500.00 crore which is equal to the annual budgetary allocation for ‘Irrigation and Flood Control’ by the GoWB. In 2013, West Bengal sanctioned 1,30,000 posts of civic police. Assuming that GoWB still has the same strength as existing, the State has to spend more than 1400 crores in a year on account of civic police wages at the rate of Rs. 9000.00 / month / civic police. This whole amount appears a wastage as the civic police practically can’t even convince a refusing taximan to carry a passenger to his destination. Spending 1400 crores a year to maintain 1,30,000 KAKTARUAS is extravagance for a fund crunched, police-deficient State. Instead, the GoWB must appoint a 30 thousand eligible police constables utilizing the same 1400 crores under salary haed. The Government must employ the sanctioned strength of true eligible employees in proper scale of pay in every department. That step, if taken, would reduce effective expenditure of the Government. As not doing for the environment compromises “right to life” (Article 21) of the State’s residents as observed by NGT, not paying DA compromises the same fundamental right of Government employees as per the June 2022 DA verdict of Calcutta High Court. In every sphere, West Bengal Government has been functioning by compromising with the human quality of people and depriving them from their fundamental right to live.

24: How Paying DA would be better for the fiscal health of West Bengal?

West Bengal Government didn’t reflect fund crunch in its budgetary planning and created ample scope for fund embezzlement by allotting significantly large amount in doles and subsidies in spite of having a stupendously high loan burden on the public treasury. While West Bengal Government claimed fund crunch by affidavit, it should have registered negative growth or at least stagnation year after year in terms of their budgetary allocation for non-committed expenditures. But that has not happened. They have allocated disproportionately large growth for non-committed revenue expenditures year after year. A fund crunched Government steadily raising non-committed expenses is not economically viable. Moreover, as West Bengal has embezzled the Central Grant for disaster management, MNREGA and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna etc., no reason to expect that the State’s disproportionately large sum of non-committed revenue expenditure (i.e. dole distribution) would be spent righteously without defalcation. From West Bengal Government’s antecedents, it may be safely assumed that large budgetary allocation for subsidies too is intended to carry on with the general trend of embezzlement of public money. Such Government needs to adopt the path of fiscal penance & bind themselves tight in fiscal discipline by directing most of their fund to pay off the committed expenditures. This way, the Government would be left with lesser amount to defalcate. The Finance Secretary needs to take due drive. At the end of FY 22-23, GoWB would have a loan burden of 5.87 lac crore which, after adding the DA burden, would turn into around a 6.5 lac crore. While Government of West Bengal would have to pay off the loan and the DA, it is better for them to spend more on committed expenditure heads like salary, pension, interest & repayment of loan by restricting itself on populist, non-committed revenue expenditures. This would steadily improve the condition of West Bengal from economic cachexia. To bring the State onto the path of fiscal discipline, DA remittance appears to be a therapeutic measure. Moreover, DA money would not only help employees to live with their due salary but would also percolate down into the economy from the employees’ hands to let the economy roll comparatively healthier.

25: What Could Be the Ways for West Bengal Government to Increase the State’s Own Revenue to Prevent Future Fund-crunch?

Leading people to drink alcoholic liquor is not a healthy way to raise fund, but Government of West Bengal is attempting such debauchery to collect greater quantum of Excise Duty from increased sales of liquor within the State. As a result, if increased drinking damages health of the State’s populace or causes moral fall, the Government doesn’t look bothered. However, on the other hand, the State can go all out to collect more GST from the business sector as West Bengal is a consuming State with a huge 10.19 crore population. It is no less surprising that containing more than double the population of Odisha (47,099,270), West Bengal’s collection of GST is not even 1.5 times that of Odisha’s. In September 2022, while Odisha has collected 3765 Crores, West Bengal has collected 4804 Crores only which is just 1.28 times that of Odisha’s collection. However, GST being a consumption tax, collection of GST is supposed to be directly proportional to the amount of consumption and amount of consumption is supposed to be directly proportional to the population. West Bengal’s GST collection has scope to be improved much further and GoWB needs to target that, instead of targeting to make common people alcohol addicts. In West Bengal, however, revenue collection has been under-prioritized as Harikrishna Dwivedi as Finance Secretary preferred a loan from Asian Development Bank over collection growth perhaps due to his close contact with the said Bank. From July 2017 post GST, the State Government has centrally helped businesses to evade tax. The business persons had to visit the State Secretariat & meet the Finance Department top brass for that cause. While the ruling party men has practiced extortion from businessmen based on their business turnover, State Government had encouraged evasion. As a result, West Bengal businesses have a general trend to operate with huge cash transactions apparently for ease of evasion. The State had nothing to lose as revenue shortfall was programmed to be compensated by the Central Government till March 2022 as per GST law. Such period of compensation, however, has been extended by GST council keeping Covid compromise of the economy in mind. Since 2012, the beginning of H K Dwivedi’s tenure as Finance Secretary, West Bengal Government systematically undermined revenue & resorted to market borrowing ending up building a staggering loan mount on the public treasury. This approach has to be altered. GST Collection needs to be prioritized to arrange for fund.

26: Suggestion How GST Evasion Can be Prevented 

Centralized online GST system has been able to rule out corruption by tax inspectors. However, scope still exists for top brass tax men to facilitate evasion and to practice corruption themselves in exchange by instructing lower officers not to look into flaws of particular business’ online GST profile. So, in reality, the inspector-raj has now, in a way, shifted to the top brass of the hierarchy who has jurisdiction over the whole GST department of a particular State. While the tax inspectors had scope to harass every tax payer, evader or honest, top brass men under the present system of GST have scope to extort only the evaders and facilitate evasion in lieu of personal gain depriving the State treasury and in turn, also the honest tax payers by granting undue privilege to their dishonest competitors. Such avenues of corruption by the States’ top brass need to be blocked by introducing, in the GSTN portal, reporting facility enabling common men to report about businesses if evasion is suspected. The Centralized GSTN portal may create provision for common informers to lodge such report by entering the GSTIN of the specific business and the tax authority may be made legally bound to investigate all such reports. Responsibility to investigate any specific reporting may be allotted randomly to any tax official belonging to either the State or Centre for the sake of unbiased evaluation and neutrality. Officials may be made bound to place their investigation outcome in public domain for public viewing within a stipulated time period (say, 30 days) for transparency. However, it is also required to ensure that a particular business cannot be reported more than once a year. This is to prevent frequent and / or vindictive reporting against businesses by common people out of personal grudge and / or competitors. GST Council may also incentivize the informer if evasion-reporting is found genuine and due collection gets recovered from the evader. If systematic GST evasion is duly stopped in West Bengal, the State’s GST collection is supposed to rise significantly, thus mitigating the State’s fund crunch to some extent.

27: Conclusion

In congruence with the previous judgements of various Courts of India, the Court of Law may decide to instruct State treasury not to pass any other bill raised by the Government for payment to non-employees before they clear off the pending DA. The Court has power to order salary freezing of West Bengal’s defiant bureaucrats too before such clearance.