Kapil Sibal Highlights Issues Plaguing Trial Judges: Meagre Salary, Low Pension, Limited Promotional Avenues Etc

Sibal was addressing at the inaugural ceremony of the 'National Conference on the District Judiciary' at the Supreme Court.

He highlighted how minuscule salary incentives and poor infrastructure affected the Justice delivery mechanism at the district level.

“Unless we are able to improve their conditions of work both in terms of salary and infrastructure, the quantity and quality of justice delivery system will suffer.”

Highlighting the issue of inadequate pension, Sibal opined, “Despite the fact that the Supreme Court had accepted the recommendations of the Shetty Commission and subsequently the Padmanabhan Committee, the NPS was made applicable to the judges of District Court from 2005 without even consulting the High Courts.”

Sibal was referring to the recommendations of the First National Judicial Pay Commission (Shetty Commission) to examine salary conditions of judicial officers in the Country. The New Pension Scheme (NPS) was applied to district judiciary in 2005.

Stressing the drawback of the implementation of the said policy, Sibal stated: “ The major disadvantage of the NPS- the monthly annuity provided to judicial officers after retirement is much less than the pension of a judicial officer having the same length of service and having retired from the same rank receives.”

He added that under the NPS sometimes the monthly annuity can go to as low as 13,965 Rs only as against Rs. 1,63,000 in the older pension scheme.

In terms of the promotional prospects, the opportunity seemed to be meager for those joining civil judiciary.  

“Some Judges join as civil judge and retire as civil judge! While the Shetty commission had highlighted the problem and suggested a weighted system, but that was rejected by the Supreme Court on the ground that the introduction of the roster system would resolve the issue. It hadn't done so.”

He also opined how the lack of incentive discouraged young talent from esteemed National Law Universities from joining the judiciary.

“Young and bring Students from National Law Universities seldom join judicial services as they do not see promotional avenues and lucrative monetary benefits”

The senior advocate expressed the dire conditions under which most of the district judicial officers worked.

“Our young talented people choose not to seek appointment at the trial and district sessions due to the abysmal conditions in which Judges operate. Despite this, many of the judges through sheer hard work and commitment to the cause are doing yeaoman service to the nation even though they are handicapped by lack of proper courtrooms, office facilities, supporting staff including stenographer, library facilities at home, appropriate residential accommodation and necessary transportation facilities.”

Additionally, the senior counsel also referred to the deplorable facilities of residence and washroom for the women Judges at the grassroots levels. The lack of proper training to access e-libraries and e-journals also added to the issue of delayed administration of justice at district levels.

"I urge everyone on the dias to urgently address the persistent issues being faced by the judges of the trial and district & sessions courts who are the backbone of our justice system," he said.

The event was also graced by the presence of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Attorney General R Venkataramani, BCI Chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra.

The event can be viewed here.

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