SC Expresses 'Shock' Over Rs 6k-15k Pension Of Ex-HC Judges

SC expressed "shock" over some retired high court judges getting a meagre pension ranging between Rs 6,000 and Rs 15,000.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed "shock" over some retired high court judges getting a meagre pension ranging between Rs 6,000 and Rs 15,000. A bench of Justices B R Gavai, P K Mishra and K V Viswanathan was hearing a petition filed by a retired high court judge who said he was receiving a mere Rs 15,000 pension.

The petitioner, who was elevated as a judge of the Allahabad High Court after serving as a judicial officer in the district court for 13 years, claimed that the authorities had refused to consider his judicial service while computing the pension. "If there are retired high court judges before us who are getting Rs 6,000 and Rs 15,000 as pension, it is shocking. How can that be?" the bench remarked.

Justice Gavai said the post-retirement facilities for judges differed in each high court and some states provided much better benefits. The apex court thereafter posted the hearing on November 27.

While hearing a separate plea in March, the apex court had said there cannot be any discrimination in computing the pensionary benefits of retired judges of high courts based on whether they were elevated from the bar or the district judiciary.

Pensionary benefits of a retired high court judge, who was elevated from the district judiciary, should be computed based on his or her last drawn salary as a high court judge, it said.