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Chandigarh: In a significant relief for lakhs of Punjab Government employees and pensioners, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the state to release pending Dearness Allowance dues up to 58 percent, calculated till July 1, 2025, by June 30, 2026.

The order came in CWP 7264 of 2026 (Gurvinder Singh and others vs State of Punjab and others), with the court fixing a clear timeline for disbursal of long pending arrears.

The ruling is being seen as a major intervention by the judiciary, particularly as employees were compelled to approach the court after prolonged delays by the state government in clearing their rightful entitlements. The court has effectively held the government accountable for withholding dues that should have been released in due course.

Reacting to the judgment, senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia thanked the High Court, calling the decision a major victory for employees and pensioners. He said he had been consistently raising this issue prominently and highlighting the hardship faced by employees due to non payment of dues.

Majithia said thousands of crores in arrears had been deliberately withheld while the government continued to spend heavily on publicity. He further alleged that instead of implementing the order, the Punjab Government is planning to move the Supreme Court of India, which he termed as another attempt to delay payments. He urged the government to refrain from filing any appeal and release dues without further delay.

Expanding his criticism, Majithia said governance failures were visible across sectors, claiming that people of Punjab are bearing the consequences. “Be it deteriorating law and order, non implementation of the old pension scheme, a temporary DGP handling the police force, or an incompetent Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, people of Punjab are suffering the burn,” he said.

Referring to the ongoing drug crisis, he added that over 35,000 lives have already been lost in Punjab due to drug abuse, and alleged that the situation continues to worsen despite tall claims by the government. He said the focus on publicity over ground action has deepened public distress.

He added that the High Court’s intervention underlines a larger issue of accountability, asserting that when governments fail to act, the judiciary is compelled to step in. The ruling, he said, is not only about DA arrears but also a reminder that commitments made to employees and citizens cannot be ignored.