Kolkata, May 19 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that she will not comment on the Supreme Court’s recent order directing the state government to clear 25 per cent of the dearness allowance dues to the state government employees immediately, but will act on it in a legal way.

“I will not make any comment on a matter which is pending at the court. But I will act legally in the matter. I generally do not speak on a sub-judice matter. I act as per legal provisions,” the Chief Minister told media persons during her three-day tour to north Bengal.

Till now, everyone in the ruling Trinamool Congress was totally silent on the issue, and even Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya said last week that if anything is to be said in the matter, it will come only from the Chief Minister.

And now with Banerjee making it clear that she will not speak on the matter and instead act legally on it, it becomes evident that the state government is treading in the matter with extreme caution.

Currently, the West Bengal government is offering dearness allowance to its employees at just 18 per cent against the figure of 55 per cent received by their counterparts in the Central government, as well as many other state governments.

As per initial estimates, the immediate payment of 25 per cent of the dearness allowance dues to the state government employees will result in an immediate drain-out of around Rs 12,000 crore or slightly less than that from the state exchequer.

The officials of the state Finance Department are currently working on an emergency basis to find out avenues for arranging funds for this payment. There are apprehensions that budgetary allocations under certain heads, including some welfare schemes of the state government, for the current financial year might have to be curtailed to arrange for the payment of dearness allowance dues.

–IANS

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