KOCHI: A day before a single bench of the High Court stayed the government order to deduct salaries of government employees, the High Court Registrar General had written to the government urging it not to deduct six days’ salaries of judges. The April 27 letter said the salaries and allowances of the Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court could not be varied or deferred by the government through an executive order. It said as per Article 221 of the Constitution, salaries are paid to judges as determined by the Parliament and they shall not be varied to their disadvantage after the appointment.
The registrar also said that the Chief Justice had already taken an initiative to collect funds from the judges for making donations to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. Hence, the Chief Justice directed the registry to inform the government of the move and take necessary steps to exclude judges from the purview of government order.
The government had ordered to defer the disbursement of salary from April to August of all officials as part of the finance conservation measures in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.During his media briefing on Tuesday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government had not taken any decision to cut the salary of Judges of the High Court.