DA Arrears Still Frozen: Will 8th Pay Commission Offer Relief for COVID-Era Freeze (Jan 2020–June 2021)?

New Delhi: The long-pending demand for the restoration of 18 months of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) arrears has once again taken centre stage. Central government employees and pensioners continue to push for the release of the dues that were frozen during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the 8th Central Pay Commission already approved in January 2025 and expected to roll out from January 1, 2026, employee unions are hopeful that the issue of DA arrears might finally be addressed. The move will have a direct impact on over 1 crore central government employees and pensioners.

The matter was brought up once more at the 63rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Council of the Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM), held on April 23, 2025. Representatives from the staff side reiterated their demand for the arrears, which cover the period from January 2020 to June 2021, when three DA/DR hikes were withheld due to fiscal constraints.

Despite repeated appeals, the government has not budged. It maintains that the pandemic-triggered fiscal pressures, coupled with massive welfare spending, made it financially unviable to release the arrears. While DA hikes resumed from July 2021, the government has consistently refused to pay the withheld dues retrospectively.

The issue was previously raised ahead of the 2025 Union Budget, when employee unions wrote to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, citing inflation, rising living costs, and the principle of financial fairness.

Under normal rules, DA for government employees and DR for pensioners are revised twice a year, in January and July, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The 18-month freeze, however, disrupted this cycle. Despite multiple representations and growing unrest among employee groups, the government has not given any timeline for reconsideration of the pending dues.

Though the Central government announced the 8th pay commission in January this year, the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Commission are yet to be finalised, and members have not been officially appointed.

Shiv Gopal Mishra, secretary of the Staff Side (NC-JCM), has called on the government to finalise the ToR at the earliest, suggesting the Commission could serve as a vehicle for resolving the arrears issue — either as a retrospective adjustment or a compensatory financial mechanism.

“We expect the Terms of Reference to get the government’s nod soon. It should be approved at the earliest," he said in a recent statement to NDTV Profit.

Despite intensifying demands and the political sensitivity of the issue, the Centre has so far issued no official statement or commitment regarding the frozen arrears. For now, the 18-month DA/DR freeze continues to remain an open and unresolved chapter in the post-pandemic recovery story of central government staff.