Nearly three-fold hike in salary, pension of SC, HC judges

Salaries, allowances and pensions of the Supreme Court and High Court judges are poised for nearly a three-fold hike under a Bill inconclusively discussed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The Congress members tried to block debate on the Bill pushed by the government in the evening but retracted after Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad urged them not to be seen obstructing since the MPs’ salaries have not yet been revised.

They were protesting at Prasad’s logic that the judges’ salaries ought to be raised compared to the salaries of the Central employees, including the members of all India services, revised as per the Seventh Central Pay Commission.

“What about us? Why only judges” was the outcry from the Congress benches as its members shouted that the MPs are poorly paid much below the bureaucrats. They, however, let the debate take place. The deputy speaker adjourned the House to continue the debate on Wednesday.

The Bill seeks to raise the monthly salary of the Chief Justice of India from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.80 lakh and other Supreme Court judges and High Court chief justices from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.50 lakh and that of High Court judges from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2.25 lakh with effect from January 1, 2016, the date from which the pay commission report was implemented for the central staff. Their pension and family pension is also increased by nearly three times from the same date.