New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to examine the issues in connection with the meagre pension being given to district judges.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra told the Attorney General and the Solicitor General, "We, being the guardian of the district judiciary, urge you to sit together with the amicus curiae and find a way out….”.
The bench said that several petitions are being filed by district judges before the court raising pension-related grievances. Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, requested the bench to give some time to argue the case related to the pension aspects of district court judges.
The bench said the district judges are only getting Rs 15,000 as pension. "District judges come to High Courts and generally they are elevated to High Courts at the age of 56 and 57 years and they retire with pension of Rs 30,000 per month," said the bench. The bench said very few High Court judges get arbitration matters and moreover, at the age of 60 years, they cannot go for legal practice and "they do not get arbitration matters…".
The bench referred to a case of a district judge, who was suffering from cancer, and termed it an extremely hard case. Advocate K Parmeswar, amicus curiae in the matter, said that many states have complied with the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) recommendations regarding the payment of arrears of pension and other retirement benefits to judicial officers. The apex court was hearing a plea filed by the All India Judges Association seeking the implementation of welfare measures for retired judges.
The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on August 27. In July, the apex court summoned the chief and finance secretaries of several states and Union Territories for non-compliance of the SNJPC recommendations.
