Judicial Officers' Pay| Supreme Court Directs Physical Presence Of Chief & Finance Secretaries Of States/UTs Which Haven't Cleared Arrears

The Supreme Court on Thursday (August 22) directed the personal appearances of Chief and Financial Secretaries of States/UTs which have not complied with the earlier directions on payment of arrears to judicial officers in terms of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission recommendations.

On July 11, the Court had given a final deadline of August 20 for several defaulting states to file compliance affidavits.

Today, Senior Advocate K Parameshar, the amicus curiae in the matter, informed the Court that the following states have still not complied with the January 4 directions : (i) Tamil Nadu; (ii) Madhya Pradesh; (iii) Andhra Pradesh; (iv) West Bengal; (v) Chhattisgarh; (vi) Delhi; (vii) Assam; (viii) Nagaland; (ix) Meghalaya; (x) Himachal Pradesh; (xi) J&K; (xii) Ladakh; (xiii) Jharkhand; (xiv) Kerala; (xv) Bihar; (xvi) Haryana; (xvii) Odisha.

Taking note of the same, the bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud directed that the Chief Secretaries and the Finance Secretaries of the aforesaid States be personally present in Court on August 27, 2024 at 10.30 am. The CJI declined the request of some States to allow virtual appearance and stated that they have to be physically present.

"We direct that, in terms of the previous directions, the Chief Secretaries and the Finance Secretaries of the aforesaid States shall remain personally present in Court on 27 August 2024 at 10.30 am."

Notably, the Court in its judgement on January 4 had directed the states to implement the recommendations of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) regarding pay and allowances for judicial officers, and to pay the arrears by February 29.

On the previous hearing, the Court reiterated its concerns over the non-compliance of the directions and warned that state authorities would face contempt proceedings if arrears weren't cleared by August 20.

Matter will be heard on August 27.

Background

In July 2022, the Supreme Court had directed the implementation of enhanced pay scale as recommended by the Second National Judicial Pay Commission with effect from January 1, 2016. The bench of CJI NV Ramana, Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli also directed the Centre and States to pay the arrears to the officers in 3 instalments - 25% in 3 months, another 25% in next 3 months and balance by June 30, 2023. Revised directions on disbursal of arrears were passed by the Court in May 2023.

The Second National Judicial Pay Commission was constituted by the Apex Court in 2017 to review the pay scale and other conditions of Judicial Officers belonging to the district judiciary all over the country. A Bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and Abdul Nazeer had appointed former Supreme Court Judge Justice PV Reddy as commission Chairman and former Kerala High Court Judge and Senior Supreme Court lawyer R Basant as members.

Case Title: All India Judges Association v. UoI and Ors., WP(C) No. 643/2015

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