Calcutta High court has made it clear that there is no bar for it to hear a contempt petition against the Bengal dispensation for not clearing dearness allowance due to government employees within the time-frame of three months as the Supreme Court is yet to accept the administration’s SLP (special leave petition) against the high court order on the DA.

“This court cannot wait for years. The state government is bound to give DA to its employees at par with their counterparts in the Centre with immediate effect… Moreover, the Supreme Court has not yet decided whether the SLP moved by the state against the DA order passed by this court would be accepted for hearing. So this court can hear the contempt petition moved by the employees’ associations,” Justice Harish Tandon, a senior judge of a division bench of the high court, said on Wednesday.

The bench comprising Justice Tandon and Justice Rabindra Nath Samanta fixed the contempt petition for hearing after two weeks.

The same division bench had on September 22 rejected a review petition of the government urging the high court to reconsider its May 20 judgment in which the state had been directed to clear the DA arrears within three months.

As Bengal did not clear the DA dues and instead, moved the review petition, three state government employees’ unions moved the contempt petition against chief secretary H. K. Dwivedi and finance secretary Manoj Panth.

The Confederation of State government Employees Union, the Karmachari Parishad and the Unity Forum were the three petitioners.

The date for hearing the contempt petition was fixed for Wednesday.

As Bengal had moved the Supreme Court against the high court order, many in the state administration believed that the contempt petition would be deferred until the matter was heard in the Supreme Court.

When the contempt petition moved by the employee unions came up for hearing on Wednesday, the counsel appearing for the state claimed that as the matter was pending disposal by the Supreme Court, the high court should not hear the case further.

But the division bench clearly said since the Supreme Court had not yet taken up the case, it could continue hearing the contempt case.