By Admin 
DA Hike News: On one hand, central government employees and pensioners are waiting for increase in salary and pension under the 8th Pay Commission. On the other hand, in Kerala the government has announced a 10 percent increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) for its employees. Due to this, the basic salary of the employees working under the Kerala government will increase from 25 percent to 35 percent.
Who will get the benefit of DA increase?
The state government employees who will benefit from this decision of the government to increase DA will include employees of local bodies, teachers and non-teaching staff of aided schools, colleges and polytechnic institutions. Apart from these, full-time contingent employees will also come under the purview of this decision.
The increased DA will be reflected in the salary for March. Overall, this decision of the government will also benefit part-time teachers, part-time contingent staff and pensioners who get re-employment and the increase in DA will be calculated according to their eligible salary.
Relief to pensioners also
Along with increasing DA, the government has also approved 10 percent increase in Dearness Relief (DR) for State Service Pensioners, Family Pensioners and ex-gratia recipients. This increased amount will be given to pensioners along with April pension. The government has also said that a separate order will be issued for payment of the outstanding amount due to increase in DA and DR. In case of local bodies, the burden of additional expenditure will be borne by the concerned institutions.
In this decision of the government, rules have also been mentioned for the state’s Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), Statutory Corporations, Autonomous Bodies, Boards and Grant-in-Aid Institutions, which follow the DA and DR pattern of the state. These organizations can apply DA and DR depending on their financial position. If an entity cannot bear the extra cost from its internal resources, it will have to take prior approval from the state government.
However, institutions where more than 90 per cent of salary or pension expenditure is funded by government grants can issue revised DA and DR without obtaining separate government clearance after taking approval from their governing body. However, this order of the government will not apply to Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Separate orders will be issued for these institutions.
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