NEW DELHI: The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the long pending proposal of increasing the salary of judges of the Supreme Court (SC) and 24 High Courts (HC).
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said two bills to hike the salary would be introduced in the Parliament in the coming winter session.
According to the proposal cleared, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) will get Rs 2.80 lakh per month and the SC judges and HC chief justices will get Rs 2.50 lakh a month. The HC judges will get Rs 2.25 lakh per month. The increased salary and pension for retired judges will be effective from January 1, 2016.
At present, a SC judge is paid Rs 1.5 lakh a month in hand after all deductions and allowances. The CJI gets a higher amount than this, while the HC judges get less. Rent-free accommodation is provided to judges while they are in service.
As of date, the SC has 25 judges as against the approved strength of 31, while the HCs have 682 against approved 1,079.
The move will also benefit 2,500 retired judges.After the recommendations
of the Seventh Pay Commission, the matter was already under the consideration of the government.