High court hears state review plea on DA

TT, 29 Jan 2019, Calcutta: A Bengal government plea seeking a review of a judgment that dearness allowance is the fundamental right of state employees on Tuesday came up in Calcutta High Court.

On behalf of the state, advocate-general Kishore Dutta told the division bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice S. B. Saraf that the August 2018 order referred to at least 10 judgments not cited any party to the case -- the state and unions.

"A separate division bench of Calcutta High Court had ruled a few years back that referring to judgments not cited by any of the parties should be considered violation of natural justice," the advocate-general said.

Dutta also alleged that the division bench order ignored cases the state had cited as precedents.

The August 2018 order had set aside a state administrative tribunal order that DA was not the fundamental right of employees but the state's "discretion". The court had sent back to SAT the related question of whether there should be parity of state employees' DA with that of central staff.