Bengal Govt issues guidelines to clear DA/DR arrears for deceased employees

The Bengal government has taken a significant step to resolve the long-standing deadlock over Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) arrears. The Finance Department's Pension Branch issued a notification on March 23 outlining a specific mechanism to ensure that arrears for the period from April 1, 2008, to December 31, 2019, are paid to the families of deceased employees and pensioners.

According to the new guidelines, a dedicated process has been established to identify and verify the rightful recipients of these funds. For DR arrears, if a nominee is already registered with the department, the payment will be processed directly into their account. In cases where the current family pensioner and the nominee are the same person, the transition will be seamless. However, if no nominee information is available, legal heirs will be required to submit the necessary documentation for verification before the funds are released.

The notification also provides clear instructions for DA arrears based on the date of the employee's passing. For those who died before December 31, 2015, departments must update e-service books and calculate arrears via the Human Resource Management System (HRMS). For deaths occurring after 2015, calculations will be based on existing online HRMS IDs. To assist families in this transition, the state has launched a dedicated helpline (033-22535417) and an email address ([email protected]) for queries.

Beneficiaries have a strictly defined window of 180 days from the date of the notification to submit their applications along with bank details and required documents. Applications for DA arrears must be submitted to the employee's last place of work, while DR arrear requests should be directed to the relevant pension disbursement authority.