NEW DELHI: The National Judicial Pay Commission (NJPC) has recommended a 30 per cent hike in salaries of judges of subordinate judiciary as an interim relief. The NJPC made the recommendation in its preliminary report that was submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday. The NJPC was constituted by an order of the SC in May 2017 and was ratified by the Union Government in November. Notably, the judges of the SC and the HCs got a hike of almost 200 per cent earlier this year.
According to a senior official in the law ministry, “The commission has proposed 30 per cent interim relief on the existing basic pay from January 1, 2016.” Judicial officers in the subordinate judiciary of Delhi courts, however, will not be entitled to draw any enhanced salaries as they were already drawing scales as per the Seventh Central Pay Commission. The NJPC has also made a recommendation favouring pensioners. A note issued by the ministry in this regard stated, “Pensioners will be getting arrears on pro ratio basis by 30 per cent increase of the present basic pay from 01.01.2016, which is regardless to commuted pension.”
The NJPC will also release a consultation paper in the next few days to seek answers from all the state governments and Registrar-Generals of all 24 high courts to examine the work environment of the district courts in the country. The NJPC will also examine the various allowances and benefits that are available to the judicial officers in addition to pay. It will suggest rationalization and simplification thereof with a view to promoting efficiency in judicial administration and to remove anomalies, if any, created in implementation of earlier recommendations. The NJPC will submit its final report to the SC in six months.
The commission was constituted to recommend a uniform pay scale for judicial officers as the salaries of judges in the subordinate judiciary vary across states.