Urgent need for new pay commission for lower court judges: CJI

 After getting respectable salaries for himself, Supreme Court and High Court judges, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan is focused on getting the lower court judicial officers their due, for they get a monthly take home that is even lower than their counterparts in the executive. 

But, he knows from his bitter experience in the implementation of the first National Judicial Pay Commission (NJPC) recommendation that it would be an uphill task to make the cash-strapped states, who pay the salaries to the lower court judges, to agree for a salary hike. 

"The only way out is appointment of a fresh NJPC. It could be done through a judicial direction by the Supreme Court which got the first NJPC's recommendations implemented through judicial fiat, though it took nearly five years," he told TOI. 

So, in the new year, the lower court judges, getting pittance of a salary, can expect some good news -- the constitution of the second judicial pay commission whose recommendations like the first one would be applicable to all judicial officers in the subordinate courts. 

The first NJPC headed by Justice Jagannatha Shetty was constituted on March 21, 1996, and it gave its recommendations in November 1999. It had recommended a salary hike that entitled a civil judge (junior division) a starting salary of Rs 11,775, a civil judge (senior division) Rs 15,200, district judge (entry level) Rs 20,800 and district judge (super-time scale) Rs 23,850. 

But, this was recommended keeping in view the then salaries of HC judges which was fixed at Rs 26,000 and that of an HC CJ at Rs 30,000, SC judges Rs 30,000 and CJI Rs 33,000. 

The salary structure for the higher judiciary recently got changed with the government agreeing to revise the salary of HC judges to Rs 80,000, HC CJ Rs 90,000, SC judges Rs 90,000 and CJI Rs 1 lakh. 

Though the recent hike in the salaries of higher judiciary judges fell a notch below their expectations, this has spurred the CJI to take a fresh look at the low salaries of the trial court judges, who work the most given the massive pendency of cases in the subordinate judiciary. 

The concern of the CJI for the lower court judges stems from his recent public speech where he had said that though he did not exercise administrative control over them, he was morally responsible for their welfare and weeding out corruption in the subordinate judiciary. 

Source : Times of India