A petition before the Delhi High Court has challenged the Centre and the AAP government’s decision to freeze dearness allowance (DA) of public servants and pensioners in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plea contended that there is no financial emergency to take such a step as Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) has around ₹3,800 crore corpus and according to news reports, PM CARES Fund has received ₹6,500 crore donation.
The plea also contended that the decision to freeze DA of government employees has been taken at a time of rising inflation, especially in Delhi, where there has been an increase in price of fuel, liquor and essential commodities.
It said the decision to freeze DA is in violation of constitutional provisions and the Disaster Management Act does not give the government any power to withhold salary as it also includes dearness allowance.
