Arrear DA Payment: To make the process of clearing long-pending Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears for retired West Bengal government employees smoother and more accurate, a new module “Pay Details Entry for Arrear DA” has been added to the WBiFMS HRMS portal. Through this module, the concerned Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) or HRMS Approver can directly upload a retired employee’s complete basic pay history into the system, based on which the arrear DA calculation will be generated automatically. Let’s walk through the entire process step by step.
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Why Was This New Module Needed?
The HRMS system was launched in January 2016. However, as per the Supreme Court’s directive, arrear DA has to be calculated for the period from April 2008 to December 2019. As a result, pay-structure data prior to 2016 is not available in the system — especially for employees who have already retired and DDOs are having to manually enter that old data. It is precisely to meet this need that this special module has been added to HRMS.
A Big Relief for Senior and Retired Employees
For employees who have already retired and whose HRMS ID exists in the system (i.e., those who retired after 2016 or have been in active service since 2016), their data is now displayed automatically. The real problem was with employees whose basic pay or other service-related information from before 2016 that is, before HRMS was fully rolled out — had never been updated in the system. This new feature brings a major convenience specifically for them.
Clicking on any employee’s name opens their detailed service page. From there, the previously scanned copy of the Service Book can be easily downloaded. Right below it, a new section called “Basic Pay Entry” has been added, which allows the pre-HRMS basic pay of older employees to be entered manually.
Freedom from the e-Service Book Hassle
Thanks to this landmark update, old or retired employees will no longer need to have a full e-Service Book freshly created just to process their arrear DA payment. DDOs can now refer directly to the old scanned Service Book, manually enter the required data, and move the payment process forward. Creating an e-Service Book was an extremely time-consuming and labour-intensive task this new feature removes that bottleneck and makes the arrear DA payment process considerably smoother.
This is especially significant for senior citizens and pensioners, who have been waiting a long time for this pending amount. With the hassle of uploading old paperwork now eliminated through a digital process, they will be able to receive their dues much faster. This is a genuinely commendable initiative by the state government.
Who Does This Process Apply To?
- For employees who retired between 2008 and 2019, their pre-retirement arrear DA calculation must be processed by the DDO of their last office through this HRMS module.
- Post-retirement Dearness Relief (DR) will be settled separately by the concerned pension disbursing authority or treasury.
- Pay changes arising from promotion, CAS (Career Advancement Scheme), or suspension can also be included in this calculation.
- Notably, for teachers and education staff, a similar calculation will be done through a separate module on the OSMS portal, which is currently still in the trial stage.
Step-by-Step Process to Enter Pay Details on the HRMS Portal
- Log in: Log in to the HRMS module on the wbifms.gov.in portal as an Approver.
- Select the menu: From the left-side menu, go to the “Arrear/Supplementary” section and click on “Pay details entry for Arrear D(A)”.
- Employee list: The “Employee Details” list will open, showing HRMS ID, name, GPF number, designation, date of retirement, and status (Not Initiated, etc.).
- Select the employee: Clicking on the row of the employee whose data needs to be entered opens a detailed employee profile along with an empty “Basic Pay Entry” table.
- New entry: Clicking the “Add Row” button opens a form where you need to fill in Reason for change in Basic, Notional Date, Actual Date, Service, Group, ROPA, Pay Band, Band Pay, Grade Pay, and, where applicable, NPA, AGP, MSP, Personal Pay, and Special Pay.
- Multiple rows: A separate row should be added for every pay change during the employee’s career (increment, promotion, ROPA revision, etc.) to present the complete pay structure.
- Save: After verifying that the data is accurate, click “Save & Continue” or “Save”.
- Generate the report: Once all entries are complete, click “Generate Report” from the main page to produce the final report, and cross-check the “Scanned Copy of Service Book” if needed.
Special Instruction in Case of Promotion or CAS
The portal itself clearly states that if an employee has had a functional or non-functional promotion, there is no need to enter every intermediate step separately — only the final revised pay figure needs to be entered. This significantly reduces the chance of error and lets the entry work be completed faster.
Latest Status of the Arrear DA Case
On August 6, an important hearing on the arrear DA case took place in the Supreme Court, where the Indu Malhotra Monitoring Committee’s report was submitted to the court. The court has directed that the report be forwarded to the employee organisations within two days. The next hearing in this case has been fixed for August 18. Employee organisations say that discrepancies in calculation still remain for employees of grant-in-aid institutions and for many pensioners. Alongside this, the general DA rate has also recently been raised to 38 percent, according to an official government order however, that is an entirely separate matter from this arrear (2008-19) calculation for retirees.
But an Official Guideline or SOP Is Still Awaited
This system is currently in the development or trial phase. DDOs should take further action only after the Finance Department formally issues a detailed order or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on this matter.
It is expected that the relevant guidelines will be released very soon, after which the crediting of pending arrear DA into employees’ and pensioners’ GPF or bank accounts will begin in full swing. This positive step is certain to end the long wait for many retired employees.
