Punjab says employees' mass leave call over pending DA illegal, warns of action

The Punjab government on Monday said the proposed strike by its employees is "illegal" and warned that it would take action if the public faced any inconvenience. Industry Minister Aman Arora made the statement ahead of the government employees' call to proceed on mass casual leave on Tuesday.

Arora said the issue of dearness allowance, or DA, is already before the Supreme Court and that the government has addressed part of the demand by deciding to raise DA from 42 per cent to 60 per cent for around 85,000 employees. He also said the government had offered salary parity with comparable central government employees for others.

The Punjab Sanja Mulazam Manch had last month given the state government time till September 7 to withdraw a recent notice issued to protesting employees, failing which employees would go on mass leave from September 8.

The Punjab government had directed the officers concerned to issue show-cause notices to employees who remained "unauthorised absent" on August 27.

In his statement, Arora said the proposed strike was illegal as the DA matter was sub judice before the Supreme Court. He appealed to employees not to become "political tools".

He said that while the Bhagwant Mann government stood firmly with its employees and remained committed to resolving their genuine concerns through dialogue, it also had an equal responsibility towards the three crore people of Punjab and could not allow disruption of essential public services.

He said any inconvenience caused to the public would compel the government to take action in accordance with law. He also appealed to employee organisations to keep engaging with the government and not allow "political interests" to come in the way of a constructive resolution.

Arora said the government remained committed to finding a balanced and fair solution.

"Punjab's employees and the people of Punjab are not two sides. Both are integral to the progress of our state. We appeal to employees to raise their concerns through the appropriate channels and not resort to an illegal strike, while ensuring that employee interests are protected without compromising Punjab's financial stability and the rights of the people to uninterrupted public services," he said.

He further said the government had already addressed the DA demand of around 85,000 employees recruited after July 17, 2020, by deciding to increase their DA from 42 per cent to 60 per cent.

He said the decision covered employees recruited under the post-2020 regime, whose pay is based on the Centre's 7th Pay Commission pattern. However, he said, it would not benefit employees recruited before July 17, 2020.

Arora said the broader issue of DA and arrears was also before the Supreme Court and that the state government would abide by the apex court's decision. More than three lakh government employees had gone on a statewide strike on August 27, demanding that the state government accept various demands, including the release of their pending 18 per cent DA.

The Punjab government has moved the Supreme Court against a high court order directing it to release all pending DA and dearness relief dues to state employees and pensioners within a fortnight, saying payment of arrears of around Rs 14,191 crore in such a short period was constitutionally impossible.