We will not leave you in lurch, SC tells judicial officers as chief secys file compliance reports on judicial pay panel
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 27
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed 17 states and union territories, including Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, to clear the salary/allowance/pension dues of judicial officers in terms of the recommendations of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) in four weeks from the date of claims raised by them.
A three-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud – which had ordered the chief secretaries and finance secretaries of 17 states and union territories to appear in person for failing to clear the arrears of revised salary and pension of judicial officers in terms of the SNJPC recommendations – expressed satisfaction over the compliance of its January 4 judgement and other directions by them.
Closing the proceedings against them, the Bench said the chief secretaries and finance secretaries were not needed to appear in person anymore.
Senior advocate K Parmeswar, who is assisting the Bench as amicus curiae, said Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi have complied with its directions.
The Bench gave four weeks to West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Kerala, Haryana, J&K, Ladakh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Nagaland to ensure that the funds made available by these states/UTs were disbursed.
“We will not leave you in lurch,” the CJI assured the judicial officers as several counsel representing them raised various issues relating to arrears of their salary, allowances and pension.
With regard to individual grievances raised by judicial officers, the Bench directed that such grievances be brought to the attention of the Committees of Judges of the High Courts which shall ensure that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in terms of its January 4 order is put in place by September 30, 2024.
The top court had set up the SNJPC headed by Justice PV Reddy (retd) in 2017 for reviewing the pay scale and other conditions of service of subordinate court judges across India. In its report submitted to the Department of Justice on February 4, 2020 SNJPC recommended an increase in their salary, allowances and pension with effect from 2016.
The judicial officers are fighting a prolonged legal battle through ‘All India Judges Association (AIJA)’ for implementation of SNJPC recommendations.
Earlier, as ordered by the top court on August 22, chief secretaries and finance secretaries of 17 states and UTs personally appeared before it on Tuesday to give an update on compliance with its order for implementing SNJPC recommendations on payment of arrears of salary, allowances and pension to judicial officers.
“We have no pleasure in calling the chief and finance secretaries of the states, but consistently the counsel of states have been absent during the hearings,” said the Bench – which also included Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.
The states/UTs whose chief secretaries and finance secretaries appeared were Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Bihar, Haryana and Odisha.
