Supreme Court Directs Withheld Salaries Of 7 Patna High Court Judges To Be Paid

The Supreme Court on Friday, as an interim measure, directed the release of the salaries of seven judges of the Patna High Court which had been withheld following the closing of their GPF accounts. The plea claiming that the General Provident Fund accounts of the seven judges had been closed was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala.

The bench passing a short order and stating that the matter would be taken up again on 27th March 2023, said–

"The salaries of the petitioners which have been withheld shall be released to them on the basis of the position as it stood prior to letter dated 13th Dec 2022."

The bench added that this was just an interim measure.

The petitioners, whose GPF accounts have been stopped are seven judges of the Patna High Court. The High Court judges include Justices Shailendra Singh, Arun Kumar Jha, Jitendra Kumar, Alok Kumar, Sunil Dutta Mishra, Chandra Prakash Singh and Chandra Shekhar Jha. Before their elevation to the High Court from the State Judicial Service, they were covered by the National Pension Scheme. The complication apparently arose after the NPS contributions were transferred to the GPF accounts given to them after their appointment as High Court judges.The accountant general sought a clarification from the Ministry of Law and Justice regarding the legality of transferring NPS contributions to GPF accounts.

Case Title: Justice Shailendra Singh And Ors. v. UoI And Ors. WP(C) No. 232/2023

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