ON MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2026, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Punjab government, led by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), to clear all pending Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) dues to its employees and pensioners within 15 days. The court also said that the Punjab government should stop spending money on advertisement campaigns and instead focus on paying its employees on time.

This latest verdict upheld an earlier order passed by single judge Justice Harpreet Singh Brar on April 8, 2026. The single-judge bench had earlier directed the Punjab government and Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to release the pending DA and DR to its employees and pensioners at par with what was being paid to the All India Services, including IAS, IPS, IFS, and judicial officers, by June 30, 2026. Instead of complying with the court order, the government and PSPCL challenged it before the division bench.

Punjab pending DA dues case 

The Punjab government filed an appeal against the single-judge order, but it was rejected by a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor. The court made it clear that the pending dues must be paid within the period given by the court, and if they are not paid within this time, the outstanding amount will attract 6% simple interest.

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The court further barred the government from spending money on large-scale advertising campaigns in print or social media until the dues are cleared. The bench said, “Till all such dues are cleared, the State of Punjab shall not resort to any unproductive expenditures such as large-scale advertising campaigns in print or social media as these expenses cannot justify the denial of dues admissible to State employees.” The Punjab Chief Secretary was also directed by the High Court to submit a compliance affidavit before the court by August 31, 2026.

The case started after the Punjab government failed to release the pending DA to its employees and pensioners even after approving the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission in June 2021. The state had adopted the Central Government pattern for payment of DA but did not implement it fully. Following this, employee organisations approached the High Court as the DA instalments due from July 1, 2023, remained unpaid.

The government earlier argued that the amount required for the immediate release of DA was more than ₹15,000 crore. It said that the government was facing financial constraints, but the High Court rejected this argument. The court said that since the state had adopted the Central Government pattern, it was legally bound to provide the same DA benefits to all employees and pensioners.

The court also questioned the government's claim of financial constraints, "While the issue of financial constraints is being raised as a ground for withholding the legitimate dues of the State’s own employees, however, as per the information available in the public domain, the State is expending large amounts of money on grant of freebies, doles, advertorial campaigns, and other expenditure, which would not strictly fall within the domain of essential expenditure by a welfare State, cannot be brushed aside, lightly," the bench said, as quoted by Bar and Bench.

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Parallel of Punjab DA case with AAP government in Delhi

While this case is unfolding and many people are questioning the Punjab AAP government's policies, political activist Munish Raizada pointed out a similar pattern in Delhi during the AAP government's tenure. Raizada said, “The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now put a check on this fraud. If the Delhi High Court had taken similar action in Delhi, some of the damage there could have been avoided.” He made this post on X while tagging Arvind Kejriwal, the national convener of AAP and the former Chief Minister of Delhi.

In Delhi, during the AAP government's tenure, several subsidy schemes were implemented, including subsidies on water and electricity, free bus travel for women in DTC, healthcare and education schemes, the Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra Yojana for senior citizens, and the Mahila Samman Yojana for women. While the government described these as part of its welfare model, many critics called them “freebies” or "revdis" aimed at gaining votes.

A similar situation was observed in Delhi in 2021 during the AAP government. In April 2021, when Municipal Corporation of Delhi employees had not been paid their salaries, the Delhi High Court pointed out that there were full-page newspaper advertisements carrying pictures of politicians. A bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rekha Palli observed that while the government claimed it could not pay salaries or pensions to its employees, it had money to spend on publicity campaigns.

During the hearing, as quoted by LiveLaw, the court observed, “We don't live in ivory towers. There are full page ads everyday in newspapers with pictures of politicians. We have seen those and you would've as well - spending money in these times on propaganda (while salaries are pending) is this not criminal?”

(Edited by Ritik Singh)

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