New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to look into seven Patna High Court judges' grievances, who claimed that their General Provident Fund (GPF) accounts had been closed. A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala said that they will resolve the issue on Friday.
The bench asked Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj to go through the matter and to take instructions on the issue. The CJI after hearing the plea expressed surprise. The apex court has sought answers in this matter by sending notices to the Central and Bihar governments. The further hearing has been fixed for March 3.
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The plea was filed by seven Patna High Court judges, including justices Arun Kumar Jha, Alok Kumar, Jitendra Kumar, Sunil Dutta Mishra, Chandra Shekhar Jha and Chandra Prakash Singh. On February 21, the court agreed to hear the plea on Friday. After the matter was mentioned before the CJI, he said, "What? GPF (General Provident Fund) accounts of judges stopped? Who is the petitioner? List on Friday."
Advocate Prem Prakash had earlier requested an early hearing before the bench. GPF stands for General Provident fund. It is a provident scheme that refers to government employees. In this system, some officials contribute some amount of their salaries to the account, which they can avail of only after their retirement. The employee can deduct up to 15% of his salary from the GPF account.
