The Andhra Pradesh high court on Tuesday issued interim directions to the Jagan Mohan Reddy government not to deduct money from DA arrears of the state governments in the name of recovery of four per cent differential amount between interim relief and latest fitment.
The high court has heard arguments on a petition filed by AP Gazetted Officers’ Association president Krishnaiah pointing out that the pay revision had resulted in reduction of salaries to the employees, instead of increase.
Senior advocate Ravi Teja arguing on behalf of the petitioner brought to the notice of the high court that there was a difference of four percent between the interim relief paid for the last two years and the latest fitment, which is computed with retrospective effect from July 2020.
He said the government was recovering this additional four percent paid for nine months from the DA arrears to be paid to the employees. This resulted in reduction of salaries to the employees.
The high court felt that the recovery of money from DA arrears was against the principles of natural justice. It issued interim orders to the government not to make such a recovery of money from DA arrears.
The advocate also told the court that the government had not disclosed the report of the original pay revision commission headed by senior IAS officer Asuthosh Mishra.
Since the issue involves a lot of complications, the court asked the government to file a comprehensive counter affidavit and posted the case to February 23.
