Stalin announces DA hike, earned leave surrender for govt employees, teachers

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday announced a slew of measures to government employees, teachers and pensioners, including a two per cent dearness allowance hike and revival of earned leave surrender that was stopped during the covid pandemic.

Making a suo motu announcement under Rule 110 of the State Assembly, he said that in the budget presented for the 2025-26, it was announced that the earned leave surrender, which was halted during the Covid-19 pandemic, would commence from April 1, 2026. Following the government employees and teachers' demand, the leave surrender could be done from October 1, this year itself. “It will benefit around eight lakh employees and teachers across the state, with the government set to incur an additional expenditure of Rs 3,561 crore,” he said.

He further announced that the Dearness Allowance for state government employees, teachers, pensioners, and family pensioners would be increased by two per cent, effective from January 1, 2025. This revision, in line with the Union Government's recent hike, will benefit around sixteen lakh individuals, including pensioners and family pensioners and place an additional financial burden of Rs 581 crore on the state exchequer.

Stalin also announced that the government has decided to expedite the report from a three-member committee to recommend a feasible pension scheme to study the old pension scheme, the contributory pension scheme and the unified pension scheme. While the committee appointed to study the issue was initially given nine months to submit its findings, the timeline has now been brought forward to September 30, 2025, in response to repeated requests from employee associations, he noted.

In addition, the Chief Minister revealed that the festival advance provided to government employees will be doubled from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000. He also stated that higher education advances for the children of government employees would be enhanced, with Rs 1 lakh for professional courses and Rs 50,000 for arts, science, and polytechnic studies.

Furthermore, he announced that the marriage advance provided to government employees would be significantly increased to Rs 5 lakh for all, replacing the earlier amounts of Rs 10,000 for women and Rs 6,000 for men.

For pensioners, the government will double the Pongal gift amount from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000, which will result in an additional expenditure of Rs 24 crore. The festival advance for pensioners will also be increased from Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000, benefiting 52,000 pensioners and costing the state an additional Rs 10 crore.

The Chief Minister concluded by announcing that women government employees currently under probation would be able to avail of one year of maternity leave without any adverse impact on their future promotions. The measures, he said, reaffirm the state government's continued commitment to the welfare of its employees and their families.