New Delhi, Feb. 6 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday held that dearness allowance (DA) is a legally enforceable right of government employees and directed West Bengal to release arrears for the period between 2008 and 2019, a ruling that will bring relief to nearly two million state employees. Rejecting the state's argument that compliance would saddle it with an additional financial liability of approximately Rs.41,770.95 crore, a bench of justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra ordered the state government to release 25% of the outstanding DA "immediately" - as per the court's previous order, while putting in place a structured mechanism for phased payment of the remaining arrears so as to balance employees' rights with the state's ...