New Delhi: The judges of the Supreme Court and 24 high courts have got a near 200 per cent salary hike, with the central government notifying the new law.
According to the Gazette notification issued on January 27, the Chief Justice of India will get a monthly salary of Rs 2.80 lakh, up from the present Rs 1 lakh, which excluded dearness and other allowances.
The revised figure of Re 2.8 lakh is in addition to perks such as official residence, cars, staff and allowances as applicable.
Other judges of the Supreme Court and chief justices of the high courts will draw a monthly salary of Rs 2.50 lakh, up from the current Rs 90,000.
SC judges and chief justices of high courts shall also be entitled to allowances, at the level of the cabinet secretary, the service chiefs and some constitutional functionaries such as the CAG and the CEC.
The judges of the high courts, who get Rs 80,000 per month, will now get Rs 2.25 lakh per month, same as that of secretary-level officers in the central government.
The salary hike will come into force retrospectively from January 1, 2016.
The High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 2018 also revises the rates of house rent allowance with effect from July 1, 2017 and the rates of sumptuary allowance with effect from September 22, 2017.
The move will benefit sitting as well as retired judges of the constitutional courts.
The increase in the salary is in line with the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for officers of all-India services, and makes it on par with bureaucrats.
In 2016, then Chief Justice of India T S Thakur had written to the government seeking a hike in the salaries of Supreme Court and high court judges.
Later, a three-judge panel had made recommendations on the salary hike of the judges and a report was then submitted to the government last year.
Majority of the recommendations were accepted by the government.
The three-judge panel had recommended a salary of over Rs 3 lakh per month for the CJI, besides other perks. The government has set the salary for the CJI at Rs 2.8 lakh per month, a little above what the cabinet secretary draws.
The judges’ panel had also recommended a higher pension benefit for retiring judges. This again has been brought to the Seventh Pay Commission level in an equivalent grade.
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