Chandigarh, May 6
The Punjab Government has decided to award higher pay scales to the judicial officers. A notification in this regard will be issued soon, sources said today.
There are 213 Sub Judges and 88 Additional District and Sessions Judges in Punjab. The new pay scales, would put an additional burden of Rs 5.5 crore on the state exchequer.
Sources said the judicial officers would be given a starting pay scale of Rs 9000-14500 with promotional scales after every five years. The decision had been taken in the light of the directions given by the Supreme Court to all states in this connection. The Supreme Court had ordered the implementation of the recommendations of the Justice K.J. Shetty Commission on revised pay scales for the judicial officers in the country.
Most of the states have been dilly-dallying on the implementation of the court’s orders. Most states concerned had taken the plea that the higher pay scales would not only put an additional financial burden on the exchequer but also create disparity in the pay scales of civil officers who had been kept on a par with judicial officers while fixing pay grades.
Taking a serious note of the non-implementation of its orders, a Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice V.N. Khare, yesterday issued orders asking the Chief Secretaries of 21 states to be present in the court on May 9. There are about 13,000 judicial officers in the country.
Punjab Chief Secretary Rajan Kashyap would take a copy of the notification to the Supreme Court. The notification would be enforced upon his return in case no amendment was suggested by the Bench.
The starting pay scale of the judicial officers now is Rs 8,000-13500. The same pay scale is given to the PCS (executive) officers and certain other categories of officers such as Subdivisional Engineers and even to the IAS officers at the entry level. They are assured promotional scales after four, nine and 14 years of service. However, with the implementation of the Supreme Court’s orders, the judicial officers will start getting a higher pay scale at the entry level than the PCS (Executive) and other officers.
