WB DA News: WB Govt Spends 65 Crores on Lawyers Amidst DA Crunch, RTI Reveals
WB DA News: The long-standing agitation regarding the pending Dearness Allowance (DA) for West Bengal state government employees has taken a new turn with a shocking revelation. While the state government has repeatedly cited a lack of funds as the reason for not clearing DA dues, a recent report obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act tells a different story. The data reveals that the state government has spent a massive amount of money on lawyers’ fees over the last five years to fight various legal battles.
This disclosure has sparked fresh controversy, with employee unions and activists questioning the government’s priorities. They ask: if the treasury is empty when it comes to paying employees their dues, where is this money for expensive legal battles coming from?
The Burden of Legal Expenses
According to the RTI findings, the West Bengal government has spent approximately 65 crore INR on lawyers in the past five years. This enormous sum has been drained from the state exchequer to manage hundreds of court cases. The use of taxpayer money for such extensive litigation expenses has raised serious ethical questions. Critics argue that while the government claims inability to meet financial demands like DA, it shows no hesitation in spending crores to contest these claims in court.
Wasting Taxpayer Money?
Lawyer Firdous Shamim, who has been vocal in the DA cases representing the employees, lashed out at the government upon hearing these figures. According to him, even without knowing the case-by-case breakdown, it is evident that public money is being squandered.
Shamim stated, “The government refuses to pay DA using taxpayers’ money, yet they are pouring crores into lawyers’ pockets to stop that very payment. Despite losing six times in court, they haven’t learned. If they had simply complied with the Calcutta High Court’s order and released the DA, this financial pressure and legal chaos could have been avoided.” He termed it unfortunate that public funds are being wasted to deny government employees their legal rights.
Star Lawyers and Stalling Tactics
Malay Mukhopadhyay, General Secretary of the Confederation of State Government Employees, added fuel to the fire with his explosive remarks. He suggested that the actual expenditure might be even higher than the reported statistics. He pointed out the government’s strategy during the Supreme Court hearings for the DA case.
Mukhopadhyay alleged, “We have observed that top-tier lawyers like Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kalyan Banerjee were brought in for the hearings. We saw a list of about 16 to 18 lawyers on the government side. Remunerations had to be paid even to those who just sat silently in the courtroom.”
He accused the government of trying to stall the inevitable defeat by using taxpayers’ money. According to him, the government is well aware of its weak position but continues to drag the case to delay the payments, hiring expensive legal aid in the process. He highlighted that during the hearings before the bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, the government’s desperate spending on ‘star’ lawyers became quite evident.
