The Second Judicial Pay Commission will submit its preliminary report on pay, allowances and pension of judicial officers to the Supreme Court the coming month. The final report of the commission is expected to be submitted by the end of this year, as it was given 18 months to complete the same.
The judicial pay commission was constituted by an order of the Supreme Court in May 2017 and ratified by the Union Government in November the same year. This is the second commission to be constituted in 20 years after the first judicial pay commission was set up in 1998. In between, an ad-hoc commission was constituted in 2010-11. The last pay revision of judicial officers was done in 2002.
Uniform pay scale
Speaking to media here on Sunday, retired Judge of Supreme Court P. Venkatarama Reddi said: “The commission has been consulting various stakeholders and is committed to recommend uniform pay scale for judicial officers across the country.” Since its constitution in June last year, the commission conducted seven meetings. The three-member commission, which included retired Justice Reddi, former Judge of Kerala High Court R. Basant, and law practitioner Vinay Kumar Gupta of Delhi High Court, briefed the media after its first consultation in Hyderabad. The commission has been consulting all State governments on the existing pay packages. It has also been consulting employees’ associations and advocates’ associations in different States, apart from consultations with retired judges.
Judicial environment
The commission is also mandated to look into judicial work environment in courts at the district, taluk and mandal-levels.
“Implementation of Information and Communication Technology has progressed considerably in courts. Though High Courts and Supreme Court have been monitoring the working of judiciary at the subordinate-level, this commission will also look into the functioning of such courts to make recommendations for improvement,” Mr. Reddi said. Sanctioned strength of subordinate judiciary is 21,000 though 18,000 professionals are currently on rolls.
“Courts should be litigant-friendly. Our recommendations will be to uphold this right of citizens,” Mr. Reddi said.
Recommendations
Speaking to The Hindu , Justice R. Basant said that the commission will look into infrastructure in courts and also examine the constraints and hassles thereof. Recommendations will centre around modernisation of courts, he added.
Commenting on turmoil which hit the Supreme Court recently with four sitting judges complaining of mismanagement within the judiciary, Justice Reddi said that these do not reflect badly on judicial system. “Complaints of Justice Karnan should not be the lens through which the judiciary should be reflected. There are aberrations but these are not the norms,” Mr. Reddi added.
