StatesKeralam
Satheesan and Balagopal clash over Keralam pay revision and ₹36,000 crore DA arrears
The Chief Minister told the Assembly the LDF left behind huge dues to employees and pensioners. His predecessor's Finance Minister says the money and the process were already in place.
Key points
- Chief Minister V D Satheesan said the previous LDF government left about ₹36,000 crore in DA and DR arrears.
- Former Finance Minister K N Balagopal said the LDF had set up the 12th Pay Revision Commission and set aside money for it.
- The row comes as the UDF government pitches a 12-theme governance plan four months into office.
Keralam Chief Minister V D Satheesan and former Finance Minister K N Balagopal have traded charges over who is to blame for the delayed pay revision for state employees and the large dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) arrears owed to staff and pensioners.
What the Chief Minister said
Speaking in the Assembly, Satheesan said the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had left behind DA and DR arrears of about ₹36,000 crore. He said the LDF did not constitute a pay commission during its 2021-2026 term, delaying the revision by two years, and issued the order for the 12th Pay Revision Commission only in February, just before the Assembly elections.
He also accused the earlier government of repeatedly postponing leave surrender payments since 2021.
“We are clearing those arrears now despite the financial problems the government is facing.”
Balagopal’s reply
Balagopal, a CPI(M) leader who was Finance Minister in the LDF government, answered in a Facebook post. He said the LDF had started the process well before its term ended and had made provisions to pay the arrears.
He set out the steps: an order on 23 February 2026 appointing the 12th Pay Revision Commission, terms of reference on 5 March that fixed 1 July 2024 as the effective date of the revision, appointment of the commission’s staff on 24 March, and a questionnaire to employees in early May. He said the 2026 Budget had set aside an additional ₹12,000 crore for the pay revision and the first instalments of DA arrears, to be paid in eight instalments.
Balagopal accused the new government of putting the process at risk by not extending the commission’s deadline. He defended the LDF’s handling of leave surrender, under which low-paid employees were paid in cash while the benefit for higher-paid staff was credited to their Provident Fund accounts. He called the government’s attempt to shift blame “an act of political bankruptcy.”
A government four months in
The exchange comes as the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government, in office since 18 May, promotes its record under the banner “A Government with the People, Transforming Keralam”, organised around 12 themes.
Among the dues it says it has started to clear are ₹310 crore in pending scholarships for backward-class students, ₹200 crore towards old liabilities of the Health Department and ₹32 crore to settle welfare pension arrears for expatriates. It has also announced a health insurance scheme with cover of up to ₹25 lakh, alongside free KSRTC bus travel for women and payments owed to paddy farmers.
Salary and pension dues are among the heaviest calls on the state’s finances, and the pay commission’s work will decide how much more the government must find. Neither side has given a date for the commission’s report.