Chandigarh, September 2026: As a Janmashtami gift to Punjab government employees, the Bhagwant Mann-led government has decided to exercise its powers to increase the Dearness Allowance (DA) from 42 per cent to 60 per cent for 85,000 employees recruited after July 17, 2020. With this decision, the DA of these employees will be brought at par with that of Central Government employees.
The decision reflects the government's consistent stand, reiterated on several occasions and platforms, that benefits should be extended only to employees who are legally entitled to them, while those outside the applicable provisions should not receive such benefits.
The move will also ensure that Punjab government employees continue to remain among the highest-paid government employees in the country, the government said. The decision applies to employees recruited under rules after 2020 whose salaries are based on the Central Government's 7th Pay Commission pattern and have not been modified through court orders.
A three-member Cabinet sub-committee headed by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Industries and Commerce Minister Aman Arora and Social Security Minister Dr Baljit Kaur has recommended increasing the DA from 42 per cent to 60 per cent for employees recruited after July 17, 2020. The recommendation will now be placed before Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for final approval.
Aman Arora, Industries and Commerce Minister and Punjab president of the Aam Aadmi Party, announced the decision at a press conference at Punjab Bhawan. The move seeks to address the disparity between employees recruited before July 17, 2020, who receive higher pay scales, and those recruited after the date under the Central Government's 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) salary pattern.
Addressing the press conference, Arora said employees were the backbone of good governance and asserted that the Bhagwant Mann government had consistently stood for their rights and dignity.
“Employees are the backbone of good governance. The Bhagwant Mann government has always stood with every employee for their rights and dignity. Today, on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami, we are fulfilling another promise and ensuring that new employees recruited after 2020 receive the DA they are genuinely entitled to,” he said.
Arora said the issue had arisen because of changes made to the salary structure of newly recruited employees. He explained that in December 2020, the Punjab Cabinet had approved salary scales and matrices equivalent to those of the Central Government's 7th Pay Commission for fresh recruitments and appointments made after July 17, 2020.
This resulted in two broad categories of employees: existing employees who were already covered under Punjab's higher salary structure, and employees recruited after 2020 whose initial salaries were based on the Central Government's 7th CPC pattern.
“Employees recruited before July 17, 2020, are benefiting from Punjab's higher basic salary scales. However, employees recruited after this date were brought under the Central pay-scale pattern but continued to receive only 42 per cent DA from Punjab. This significant disparity could not be ignored,” Arora said.
He said Punjab government employees were already receiving considerably higher salaries than their Central Government counterparts in several important cadres. Under Punjab-specific salary structures, employees in some cadres receive salaries 30 to 70 per cent higher than their Central counterparts.
However, Arora said the situation was different for employees recruited under the post-2020 salary structure, as they do not receive the higher Punjab entry-level salary scales available under the earlier system. Therefore, the argument that a lower DA could be offset through higher basic pay has limited relevance for this category, he said.
Arora said the AAP government under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had maintained that no Punjab government employee should receive less pay than their Central Government counterpart. He added that the state government had undertaken large-scale recruitment in recent years, creating employment opportunities for Punjab's youth.
“The increase in DA for post-2020 employees is a sincere step towards removing this disparity,” he said.
Arora also said the Punjab government had presented its position on DA for employees recruited after 2020 before the Punjab and Haryana High Court and subsequently through a Special Leave Petition filed by the state before the Supreme Court. He said Cabinet ministers had publicly reiterated the government's position during a press conference on September 3, 2026.
Taking aim at the Opposition, Arora challenged the Congress and BJP, which have invoked Article 14 of the Constitution while demanding pay parity for Punjab government employees. He said that if the parties genuinely believed in Article 14, they should first ask governments in states ruled by them to bring the salaries and allowances of their employees on par with those of Central Government employees.
Under the latest decision, employees recruited after July 17, 2020, whose salaries follow the Central 7th CPC pattern and have not been modified through court orders, will be eligible for 60 per cent DA.
According to the government fact sheet, around 85,000 employees will benefit from the decision. The beneficiaries include 11,685 constables, 20,603 teachers, 5,144 clerks, 2,355 nurses, 2,267 peons, 1,467 multipurpose health workers, 1,248 medical officers (general), 1,214 patwaris and 1,129 junior engineers.
