The Hindu : Salaries raised for district, civil judges

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 08, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Salaries raised for district, civil judges

By Radha Venkatesan

Chennai April 7. Bowing to a Supreme Court directive, the cash-starved Tamil Nadu Government has finally hiked the salaries of district judges and civil judges with pay arrears for the past seven years.

Nine months after the court asked all States to implement the pay hike by July last, Tamil Nadu raised the salaries for officers of the subordinate judiciary by Rs. 1000-4000 from this month.

In effect, the supertime-scale district judges will be paid on a par with the Department Secretaries of the State Government. This works to Rs. 24,850 per month. And, their salaries will be only Rs.1,250 less than that of Madras High Court judges, who get a consolidated pay of Rs. 26,000.

Curiously, for entry-level munsifs, it is not a hike, but a cut in their existing salary by Rs. 100, as the junior division civil judges were fixed on a lower pay scale by the first Judicial Pay Commission headed by Shetty. However, senior division civil judges will get a maximum basic pay of Rs. 18,350, according to a recent order issued by the Home Department.

Despite its financial crisis, Tamil Nadu is the third State to implement the court order after Kerala and Bihar, say Finance department officials. However, the Tamil Nadu Judicial Officers Association is not too pleased with the Government decision to put the entire pay arrears, for the period from July 1996 to March 2003, into the General Provident Fund accounts of the judges. "The Government should at least give a portion of the arrears in cash".

But the State Government, which has cut the pension and bonus benefits of its 12.45 lakh employees, says it cannot afford to pay the arrears, which total Rs. 4.5 crores, in cash. While increasing the pay, it has also created seven categories of judicial officers, up from four now.

Officials say the pay hike became inevitable as the Supreme Court dismissed the review petitions filed by all States pleading inability to effect the hike with arrears and appoint 50 judges per million population as per the recommendations of the Shetty Commission.

Recruitment not possible now

However, Tamil Nadu has informed the court that appointing 50 judges for every million population is not fiscally feasible. For, Tamil Nadu, as of now, has only 700 judicial officers in the subordinate judiciary and will need to recruit 2,000 more to match the Commission norms. And, such large-scale recruitment at the increased levels of pay will entail Rs. 2,100 crores, say the Finance department officials. When the Government is struggling to pay pensions and salaries, how can it take on such an increased burden on account of the judiciary, they wonder.

As the Supreme Court has given a five-year period to effect the recruitment, the State Government has time to take a final decision.

This apart, the Commission directed the State Government to provide free official accommodation or house rent allowance to all judicial officers and bear 50 per cent of water and electricity charges at the official residences of the judges. But, as of now, it is only increased pay, and the hike in perks may come later. "We should be given the benefits we are entitled to. We will ask the Government to give the perks and also recruit judges according to the Commission norms," says a senior district judge.

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