No Weekend Breaks for Bengal’s Accounts Offices

In a race against the fiscal calendar, the West Bengal Finance Department has directed that all treasuries and accounts offices across the state remain open over the upcoming weekend. This is to ensure that the payment of Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears is processed in time for the March 31 deadline.

The decision has been made in response to a critical Supreme Court deadline that requires the state to pay at least 25% of DA arrears to employees. This is to be done within the current financial year. With thousands of such pending cases in the WBiFMS (Web-based Integrated Financial Management System), the state government has decided to cancel weekend leave for key personnel in Pay & Accounts offices across the state.

“The volume of bills submitted by various Departments and Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) is unprecedented,” said a senior Finance Department official. “To ensure every eligible employee receives their dues as per the court’s timeline, we are moving to a 24/7 processing cycle for the final days of March.”

The arrears being cleared in this phase pertain to the period between January 2016 and December 2019. The format for payment is as follows:

• GPF Transfers: The first installment of arrears for Group A, B, and C employees will be transferred to their General Provident Fund account.
• Direct Cash: Group D employees and pensioners will receive the arrears through direct bank transfers for immediate liquidity.
• Second Phase: The second installment for this period is scheduled for release in September 2026.
  The sudden administrative drive is being interpreted from two angles. From a legal standpoint, the pressure is mounting on the administration to act as a “Model Employer” in response to the Supreme Court ruling in February. The decision is being interpreted from a political standpoint as an attempt by the Mamata Banerjee administration to placate long-pending grievances of the 800,000 employees in the state ahead of the Assembly Elections scheduled for 2026.

While employee unions have appreciated the weekend operations, they still insist on making the DA rates in the state completely in line with those in the Central Government, which remains an area of ongoing legal and political tussle.