Judges of the constitutional courts are often those who have left lucrative careers in the legal profession to follow the path of justice administration. This means a big cut in their income and a limited social life, leave aside transfers out of their parent State High Court.
In the case of retired Supreme Court judges, there is no return to the legal profession after retirement at 65 years, which is when a lawyer is often at the peak of his or her career.
Former Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur said this convention should end. Judges should be allowed to return to the legal practice rather than be made to retire and live on a pension, he said in his retirement speech. He would love to practice as a lawyer, he added.
While change takes a long time, the government has meanwhile proposed to hike the salaries and pensions of the judges, with the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2017 .
The salaries, allowances, and pensions of the judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts were last revised with effect from January 1, 2006, as per the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 2009.
The Seventh Central Pay Commission recommended revision in the salaries and pension benefits of Central government employees, including members of All India Services. The government accepted the majority of these recommendations and the revised pension rules came into force on January 1, 2016.
Increases in the salaries, allowances and pension of the judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts was necessitated because of the increase in the same of Central government employees.
The 2017 Amendment Bill seeks to revise the salaries of judges with effect from January 1, 2016 as follows: Chief Justice of India: from ₹1,00,000 per month to ₹2,80,000 per month; Supreme Court judges: from ₹90,000 per month to ₹2,50,000 per month; Chief Justice of the High Court: from ₹90,000 per month to ₹2,50,000 per month; High Court judges: from ₹80,000 per month to ₹2,25,000 per month.
The Bill also seeks to revise the rates of house rent allowance with effect from July 1, 2017 and the rates of sumptuary allowance with effect from September 22, 2017.
The government said in its statement of objects and reasons for the proposed Bill that the subject matter of the Bill is pending and the President has been informed.
