Chandigarh, Aug 4 (PTI) A day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Punjab government to clear pending dearness allowance of employees and pensioners, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday said legal options, including the possibility of filing an appeal in the Supreme Court, were being examined.

The high court on Monday directed the Punjab government to clear pending DA of employees and pensioners within a fortnight, while dismissing the appeals filed by it and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) against the single bench's direction to release pending DA to its employees and pensioners.

The court also directed that till all such dues are cleared, Punjab shall not resort to any unproductive expenditures, such as large-scale advertising campaigns in print or social media, as these expenses cannot justify the denial of dues admissible to the state employees.

Reiterating the state government's commitment to employees, Cheema on Tuesday said all constitutionally and legally valid dues would be paid.

"Our legal team is examining the recent judgment in detail, reviewing the judicial precedents and consulting legal experts to determine the appropriate legal course, including the possibility of filing an appeal before the Supreme Court," said Cheema here.

Emphasising that Punjab already offers some of the highest government pay scales in the country, surpassing the central government in several categories, Cheema said the state government has inherited a Rs 14,191 crore liability in employee pay commission arrears due to the policies of the previous SAD-BJP and Congress governments.

He claimed the AAP-led Punjab government has already cleared over Rs 6,000 crore under a liquidation plan and remains committed to paying all constitutionally and legally valid dues while examining the recent high court judgment and the available legal remedies.

Cheema said the employee pay commission report was originally formulated in 2016 during the tenure of the SAD-BJP government but remained unimplemented for years.

"The report was implemented only in July 2021. As a result, dearness allowance (DA) arrears from January 1, 2016 to July 2021 were frozen, creating a liability of Rs 14,191 crore," he said.

Cheema further said that although the process of implementing the pay commission recommendations had been initiated under the previous regime, the then Congress government remained in power without releasing even a single rupee towards clearing these arrears, leaving the entire financial burden for the present government.

Explaining the steps taken by the AAP government, Cheema said after various employees approached the high court, the Punjab government prepared a structured liquidation plan, which was accepted by the court.

"Out of the total liability of Rs 14,191 crore, the AAP government has already paid over Rs 6,000 crore to employees. The high court accepted the liquidation plan, and its implementation is proceeding smoothly," he noted.

He said Punjab currently offers some of the highest pay scales in the country, exceeding the central government pay structures in several categories.

Presenting comparisons between the Punjab government and the central government pay scales for various posts, Cheema said, "The state government's legal argument was that a state could not simultaneously sustain both the highest basic pay scales and the highest central DA rates when the state's pay structures were already significantly higher." He added that the previous Congress government had itself decided that newly recruited employees would be inducted under the Central Pay Commission guidelines.

Cheema said despite inheriting a heavy fiscal burden from the previous SAD-BJP and Congress governments, the Punjab government remains fully committed to resolving all pending financial liabilities in a systematic and transparent manner. PTI SUN KSS KSS