Reiterating its concerns over the ‘meagre’ amount of pension given to district judges in India, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Union government to view the case of district judges with some leeway, when it came to providing them with retiral benefits such as the payment of pension.
Noting that it was conscious of the financial implications in other segments, the Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra observed that the difficulties of district judges were not resolved, even when they were elevated to High Courts.
The Apex Court made the observations while dealing with a plea filed in 2015 by the All India Judges Association. It pointed out that district judges may only become High Court judges late in their working years, in the age bracket of 55 to 60 years.
They often spent their entire life in the judiciary, only to be told that their years as a district judge would not be counted for the payment of pension at rates applicable to High Court judges, observed the CJI.
The CJI said considering that the rate of pension for district judges in certain cases was around Rs 8,000 a month, the amount was hardly enough to make ends meet. Such judges were also unlikely to be able to resume any other mode of work after retirement, such as arbitration, he added.
He recalled the case of a judicial officer, who was recommended for appointment to the High Court. She was told her tenure as a district judge would not be taken into account for pension. She was suffering from cancer.
The Bench urged the Central government to deal with the district judiciary in a ‘different way’.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government, assured that the government would examine the issue.
The Bench adjourned the matter for August 27, after an adjournment request was made by Attorney General R Venkataramani and SG Mehta.
The Court had observed in previous hearings that retired district judges were not being given enough pension.
It underlined the importance of enabling judges to live a life of dignity upon retirement, as they spent a significant portion of their working lives in service to the judicial institution.
Earlier in November last year, the Apex Court had warned of taking contempt of court action against the Chief Secretaries of States, in case they failed to comply with earlier directions to pay pension to district judges at revised rates from July 1 onwards.