The Bengal administration on Friday moved a petition before Calcutta High Court seeking a revision of its order, which had asked the state to pay dearness allowance to its employees on a par with that of the staff of the central government.

The petition is likely to be heard by a division bench headed by Justice Harish Tandon the next week.On May 20, the division bench headed by Justice Tandon had upheld a verdict passed by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) and directed the state government to pay DA to its employees on a par with the allowance received by central government staff.

The state was also directed to implement the order within three months.But ahead of the expiry of the three months on August 20, the state government on Thursday night moved an online petition requesting the division bench to reconsider the order.

The petition was registered in the appropriate department on Friday.DA on a par with the central government is a long-pending demand of state government employees. Two confederations of employees have been engaged in legal battles for the past seven years to get enhanced DA.

Sources in the administration said it would need Rs 20,000 crore to clear the pending DA of state government employees. A source said the Centre had given 34 per cent DA (of the basic pay) to its employees after the seventh pay commission had been implemented in January 2016.

In Bengal, the government has so far given 3 per cent DA after the sixth pay commission was implemented from January 2020, which means there is a backlog of around 30 months.

“Rough estimate suggests that the state needs to spend Rs 64 crore a month to give one per cent DA.… The Centre had announced DA in phases. A detailed calculation regarding the due DA is yet to be calculated, but the outgo is likely to be more than Rs 20,000 crore,” said a top government official.

Sources in the Bengal government said the state’s financial condition did not allow it to shoulder such a huge burden at present. “The state government is considering options to move the Supreme Court challenging the order. The final decision will be taken by the chief minister,” said another official.

While delivering the judgment on an appeal moved by the state against the SAT’s 2017 directive, the high court observed: “Getting DA is the fundamental right of the employees and the DA of the employees should be fixed on the basis of National Price Index ( as fixed by the central government).”