Raipur:
State pensioners have received major relief as the governments of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have abolished the long-standing requirement of obtaining mutual consent before revising Dearness Relief (DR), the Chhattisgarh Karmchari Adhikari Federation (CKAF) said on Sunday.
The Finance Departments of both states have issued a joint order ending the existing arrangement. The move is expected to remove procedural delays and ensure timely implementation of DR revisions for thousands of pensioners.
The order, jointly signed by Chhattisgarh Finance Secretary Dr Rohit Yadav and Madhya Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Manish Rastogi, states that legislative amendments will no longer be required for enhancing DR. Instead, both state governments will issue executive orders independently while informing each other about the financial implications through official correspondence. The order also clarifies that neither state will grant DR at a rate higher than that notified by the Centre.
Welcoming the decision, CKAF State Convenor Kamal Verma and Pensioners Forum Convener BP Sharma said the issue had been repeatedly raised with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and the Chief Secretary through memoranda. Representations were also submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking removal of the consent clause linked to Section 49(6) of the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000.
The federation maintained that Section 49(6) does not explicitly require mutual consent for revising DR and argued that the practice had caused unnecessary delays, leaving Chhattisgarh pensioners with lower DR than their counterparts under the Central Government and several other states.
It further pointed out that pensioners in newer states such as Uttarakhand and Jharkhand receive DR revisions without requiring approval from their parent states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, respectively. According to the federation, the separate arrangement for Chhattisgarh was inconsistent with the constitutional principle of equality.
The federation thanked Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, and Chhattisgarh Finance Minister OP Choudhary for resolving what it described as a long-pending administrative anomaly.
