By IANS,
Agartala : The Guwahati High Court has asked the Left Front ministry in Tripura to explain why it reportedly violated court orders relating to payment of dearness allowance to retired state employees.
“Responding to a writ petition filed by the Tripura Government Pensioners’ Association (TGPA) regarding non-payment of dearness allowances (DA) at the central government rates to the retired employees, the high court issued a show-cause notice,” said Dipak Biswas, a senior lawyer.
“The notice asks the government to explain reported violation of the high court order given in 1998 asking the state government to release DA at the central government rates to the retired employees”, Biswas told reporters Friday.
After the 1998 verdict, the state government went to the Supreme Court but the apex court also upheld the high court verdict. Then the state government filed another petition in the high court praying for review of the court decision, but its plea was not granted.
“In 2003, the then Left Front ministry, led by chief minister Manik Sarkar, decided not to pay DA as directed by the court because of a financial crunch and the pensioners again brought the matter to the notice of the court,” Biswas said.
The Agartala bench of the Guwahati High Court comprising Justices B K Sharma and P K Mooshahari, issued the show-cause notice Tuesday, asking the state government to submit its reply within a month.
The Tripura government is now studying the notice. “We would take suitable steps after studying the court notice,” said S C Das, the state’s law secretary.