Friday, July 11, 2025

J&K hikes DA to 55%; arrears from January to be paid in June

da

Srinagar, June 4: The Jammu and Kashmir Government on Wednesday announced a hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) for its employees from the existing 53% to 55% of basic pay, effective from January 1, 2025.

According to an official order, the revised DA will apply to all government employees working in regular pay levels under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

“In continuation to Government Order No. 28-F of 2025 dated 27.01.2025, it is hereby ordered that the Dearness Allowance shall be enhanced from 53% to 55% of basic pay, effective January 1, 2025,” the notification stated.

The order clarifies that “Basic Pay” refers to the pay drawn in the prescribed pay matrix level as per 7th Pay Commission norms, excluding any special pay or other components.

The arrears from January to May 2025 will be disbursed in June 2025, after which the enhanced DA will be part of the monthly salary. The payment will follow standard rounding-off norms, where 50 paise or more is rounded to the next rupee.

Last month, the Union Cabinet on Friday increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) by 2 percentage points, effective from January 1 this year, benefitting nearly 1.15 crore central government employees and pensioners.

The Union Cabinet has approved the release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from January 1, 2025, representing an increase of 2 per cent over the existing rate of 53 per cent of the basic pay/pension, to compensate against price rise, said Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw after the Cabinet meeting.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of the increase in both DA and DR would be Rs 6,614.04 crore per annum.

The move will benefit about 48.66 lakh central government employees and 66.55 lakh pensioners.

The increase is by the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.