The Supreme Court has directed the disbursal of arrears and allowances to claims raised by judicial officers as per earlier Court directions by states and union territories within four weeks.
The CJI DY Chadrachud-led bench also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard on Tuesday the states and UTs’ non-compliance with the court’s earlier directions on payment of arrears to judicial officers as per the recommendations of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) recommendations.
The Court noted that Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh had complied with the directions for clearing arrears and allowances of judicial officers.
The Court perused the affidavits on the status of compliance from the remaining states and granted four weeks’ time to ensure the funds made available by the states are disbursed. Proceedings against these states were directed to be closed.
The Court had summoned the personal appearance of the Chief Secretaries of 17 states and union territories for non-implementation of the SNJPC recommendations.
The plea had been filed by the All India Judges Association which sought the implementation of welfare and other measures for former judges and judicial officers.
Senior Advocate K Parameshwar, Amicus Curiae in the matter, said 18 states and UTs have not complied with the SNJPC recommendations fully, though several orders have been issued.
He said as per the responses received from the States/UTs, they still did not comply with the orders of this Court dated July 27, 2022; May 19, 2023; and January 4, 2024.
The Bench warned that if the senior-most State/UT officers failed to appear, the Court would issue non-bailable warrants (NBW) against them.
Earlier on August 8, the Supreme Court asked the Central government to examine the issues in connection with the meagre pension being given to district judges.
Noting that the district judges were only getting Rs 15,000 as pension, the Bench asked the Attorney General and the Solicitor General to sit together with the amicus curiae and find a way out.
The Bench had earlier emphasised the correlation between providing appropriate allowances to judges and safeguarding the independence of the judiciary.
It said the state was duty-bound to ensure the conditions of service, both during the tenure of office and upon retirement, commensurating with the need for dignity in terms of working conditions and post-retirement benefits made available to former judicial service candidates.