The Delhi University Teachers' Association or DUTA has come out against the Central Government's move to freeze dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) after calling it 'arbitrary' as well as 'an infringement on the rights of the employees'.
The finance ministry on last Thursday decided to put on hold increment in DA for 50 lakh Central Government employees and DR for 61 lakh pensioners till July 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant halt in economic activity have put the government's finances under strain.
The government will, however, continue to pay the DA and DR at existing rates.
The teachers' organisation said the decision will harshly affect all government employees as well as the teaching and non-teaching staff and pensioners across universities.
The body expressed its shock saying "such a drastic decision was taken without any discussion with the associations and representative bodies of the employees and without any broader consultation process".
"The decision totally lacks transparency and is also an infringement on the rights of the employees," a statement issued by the DUTA reads.
"The grim situation created by the pandemic is before the teaching community which understands its collective role and responsibility in such circumstances. However, the decision to freeze DA and DR is arbitrary and is tantamount to a pay cut. Such decisions should be resorted to only in case of a dire emergency, after all other options are exhausted and in full transparency, with all details of expenditure and income revealed," the statement said.
"The DUTA therefore demands that the government should immediately withdraw the DA freeze on central government employees (and pensioners) and takes steps to reduce unnecessary and non-urgent expenditure," the statement added.
Last week, the Federation of Central Universities Teachers' Associations (FEDCUTA) had also urged the Central Government to review its decision of freezing DA and DR and said it tantamounts to wage cut.
Dearness Allowance is calculated as a percentage of basic salary and paid to government employees, public sector employees and pensioners to mitigate the impact of inflation. And Dearness Relief is a percentage of the basic pension or family pension that accrues to the pensioners.
"In view of the crisis arising out of COVID-19, it has been decided that additional installment of dearness allowance payable to central government employees and dearness relief to central government pensioners due from January 1, 2020, shall not be paid. The additional installment of DA and DR due from July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021, shall also not be paid," the Department of Expenditure said in an office memorandum on Thursday.
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