On the very day of the West Bengal State Budget, the Supreme Court delivered a stinging blow to the state government by ordering the immediate clearance of Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears. The apex court has mandated an immediate 25% payout of the total dues, with the remaining 75% to be settled by May 31. Additionally, a committee of four retired judges has been formed to scrutinize the state’s financial health.

The financial implications of this verdict are staggering. To clear just the initial 25%, the state exchequer will need to disburse over ₹10,000 crore. This means the total outstanding DA exceeds ₹40,000 crore. When analyzed against the 2025-26 State Budget of ₹3.89 lakh crore, it becomes evident that the government will have to spend more than 10% of its total annual budget solely on DA arrears.

To put this in perspective, the total allocation for School and Higher Education in the current budget was around ₹41,000 crore—nearly equal to the total DA liability. Furthermore, sectors like Agriculture and Public Health Engineering, which were allocated around ₹10,000 crore to ₹11,000 crore each, are now seeing their equivalent annual budgets being swallowed by just the first installment of the DA payout. With the Energy and PWD sectors also facing similar budget comparisons, the state government finds itself in a precarious position, struggling to balance employee rights with developmental projects.