Lok Sabha okays judges’ salary hike

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Thursday cleared a bill hiking the salary and pension of the Supreme Court and high court judges but not before some members hit out at the judiciary for its “overreach” and the procedure of judges’ appointment.

The Supreme Court had in October 2015 struck down as unconstitutional an act of Parliament that sought to replace the current system of j udges appointing judges.

“Legislation should be left to legislators… In 10-15 years, there will be direct conflict between Parliament and judiciary on this,” Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kalyan Banerjee said. The Supreme Court couldn’t legislate a law, he said, adding, “Our functions can’t be taken away”.

His party had supported the salary hike but he wanted to know if the administrative side of the judiciary was answerable to Parliament.

The government and the judiciary are at loggerheads, with the former pushing for an end to an allegedly opaque system of appointment of senior judges.

“We (parliamentarians) are held accountable every day. But to whom are the judges accountable? I want to know whether the RTI act applies to the judiciary” CPM’S A Sampath said.

The two members also criticised the delay in filling up vacancies of high court chief justices. Nine of the country’s 24 high courts have acting chief justices. The high court and supreme court judges (salaries and conditions of service) amendment bill, 2017 proposes more than two-and-a-half fold increase in the emoluments, marginally below the hikes recommended by a three-judge panel.

Judges continue to be paid according to the sixth pay commission. Their salaries were last hiked in 2009 but with retrospective effect from January 1, 2016.

The CJI draws ~1 lakh as monthly salary, apart from other allowances, a Supreme Court judge around ~90,000 and an high court judge gets around Rs 80,000. Revised pensions, too, will be paid from 2016, benefitting over 2,500 retired judges.

About 700 judges are serving the Supreme Court and the high courts against a sanctioned strength of more than 1,100.

The bill, introduced by minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, will have to be passed by the Rajya Sabha for the benefits to kick in.

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