DA news: Punjab finance minister Cheema says state govt will ensure salary parity with Centre — Latest updates

DA news update: Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday said that the state government will ensure salary parity and dearness allowance at par with central government workers, if that's what its workers seek, PTI reported.

Joined by Industries and Commerce Minister Aman Arora and Social Security Minister Baljit Kau, Cheema said the state is ready to match the Centre's overall compensation package rather than simply replicating the DA percentage, the report added.

He noted that Punjab government workers have among the highest salaries in the country, adding that employees in several major categories already draw overall higher take-home salaries than their central government counterparts.

Punjab pay among highest compared to Centre, states

• According to Cheema, basic pay plus DA paid to employees in Punjab is higher than that of other states such as Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. He added that government employee salaries in Gujarat are 28% lower than in Punjab, as per the report.
• In terms of the state's finances, he claimed that salaries and pension account for 51% of Punjab's total revenue, as against an average 38% in other states, it said.
• Comparing salaries for specific jobs — clerk, driver, stenographer and teacher — he added that these employees earn more in Punjab compared to their central government counterparts.
• For clerks, Punjab's basic pay is ₹38,600 and total emoluments with 42% DA are ₹54,812, against ₹36,960 for the corresponding central category with 60% DA.
• Similarly, drivers receive total emoluments of ₹40,612 against ₹36,960 for their central counterparts.
• Stenographers get ₹56,374 against ₹47,360.
• Punjab ETT teachers receive ₹67,592 compared with ₹65,760 for the corresponding Central category.
• And constables get ₹54,812 against ₹36,960.
• “The Punjab government is paying higher basic pay to its employees than the Union government,” Cheema claimed.

‘Engage through dialogue rather than confrontation’

According to Cheema, the AAP government raised employee DA from 28% to 42%. He blamed the opposition for misleading people over pending DA for employees and pensioners, the report said.

Arora, on his part, asked employee unions to engage with the state through dialogue rather than confrontation, adding, “employees are the backbone of good governance. We appeal to the unions to recognise the political opportunism of opposition parties, which made promises before elections without making corresponding financial provisions.”

“We are ready to resolve outstanding issues across the table with Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann so that the interests of employees are protected without placing an unbearable burden on the people of Punjab,” he added.

Reacting to the ministers' appeal to engage through dialogue, Sukchain Singh Khera, leader of the Punjab Sanjha Mulzam Morcha, said the meeting with the state government would be possible if it withdraws its move to take disciplinary action against those employees who remained “unauthorised absent” on August 27.

Punjab moves SC over HC order on DA payments

This came after the state this week moved the Supreme Court challenging a 3 August order from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which directed that pending DA and DR be cleared within 15 days. the Punjab government has claimed that it is “constitutionally impossible” to pay the total arrears, calculated to be around ₹14,191 crore, in such a short period of time, as per the report.

The state, in its plea, has said that DA should be assessed on the basis of the total salary package rather than mechanically matching the Centre's DA percentage, adding that its rules do not mandate DA payments to state employees be made at the rate fixed by the Centre for its employees.

According to the state government, 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 plea also challenges the High Court's direction restraining the state from incurring unproductive expenditure, saying that no such expenditure was pleaded or supported by evidence before the court.

The Punjab government urged the apex court to set aside the HC order and restore its discretion to determine DA and the manner and timing of payment of arrears.

DA row: What are employees demanding in Punjab?

Over 3 lakh state employees participated in a state-wide, one-day mass leave protest on 27 August to push for immediate clearance of pending DA and other demands, in a strike that affected public services. More than 150 employees presented a united front as the Manch, and over 3.50 lakh pensioners participated in the “maha hartal”.

Key demands include payment of pending 18% DA, implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), regularisation of contractual employees, implementation of minimum wages for workers, including mid-day meal, ASHA and Anganwadi workers, restoration of the ACP scheme, and extension of Punjab pay scales to employees recruited after 17 July 2020.

(With inputs from PTI)