Supreme Court: Pensioners Entitled to Same Inflation Relief as Serving Employees

The Supreme Court ruled that a State cannot provide pensioners a lower Dearness Relief (DR) increase than the Dearness Allowance (DA) given to employees.

A Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Prasanna B. Varale held that since inflation affects both groups equally, such differentiation is arbitrary and violates Article 14.

The case arose from a Kerala government order granting a 14% DA hike to KSRTC employees but only 11% to pensioners.

The Court dismissed the State's argument regarding financial constraints, clarifying that while such issues might justify payment delays, they cannot justify discriminatory rates for the same economic purpose.

[The State of Kerala v. M. Vijaykumar & Ors.]