New Delhi, Feb. 5 -- In the long-pending dearness allowance (DA) dispute between the West Bengal government and its employees, the Supreme Court on Thursday granted major relief to nearly 20 lakh State government employees by upholding their right to receive DA and directing the State to clear long-pending arrears.

In its judgment delivered today, a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra ordered that DA arrears for the period from 2008 to 2019 must be paid to State employees and reiterated its interim order dated May 16, 2025, under which the State was required to release at least 25% of the outstanding amount.

The Court held that payment of DA is a legally enforceable entitlement of employees and clarified that any am...