Just 3 days ago a bill to increase the salaries of judges of the Supreme Court (SC) and the 24 another high courts by over 2 folds was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 21st December 2017. But today the 7th Pay Commission has been remodeling the structure of pay package of a government department. Earlier, several media companies confirmed that the bill to increment the salaries of all the judges working at the Supreme Court of India and few High Courts of India by two folds. The bill was also presented before the Lok Sabha.
Once it is cleared by parliament and becomes a law, the Chief Justice will get a monthly salary of Rs. 2.8 lakhs from the present Rs. 1.0 lakh. And similarly, judges of the Supreme Court (SC) and chief justices of the high courts (HC) will get a monthly salary of Rs. 2.5 lakh from the current Rs. 0.9 lakh. All the recommendations for incrementing the salaries of those judges were next in line with the minimum pay hike under process.
Law Minister Mr. R S Prasad, piloted the bill, which prompted the Speaker to ask him to be punctual. Mr. Ravi S Prasad was busy in the Rajya Sabha. Last year, in 2016, then Chief Justice T S Thakur had written to the government seeking a hike in the salaries of Supreme Court (SC) and high court (HC) judges.
As against the approved strength of thirty-one(31), the Supreme Court today has only twenty five (25) judges. The HCs have an approved strength of more than one thousand, but only 682 judges are today handling work in the 24 high courts. It is also clear in the bill that it will also benefit 2,500 retired judges.
Since last couple few months, there has been the serious ongoing debate regarding incrementing the minimum pay of the central govt. employees. The struggle to increase and implement the minimum pay hike for those employees is going on under the 7th Pay Commission; the Lok Sabha earlier was presented with the bill to increase the salaries of the SC and HC judges by two-folds.
If the bill of increasing the salaries of the SC and HC judges is passed, it will become a law will be incorporated in central’s rules & regulations. The High Court along with the Supreme Court judges amendment bill 2017 also has the bill to revise the rate of house rents. The bill presented before the central govt. and the order for its implementation is waiting.
Hence, not only SC and HC judges, all the central employees are waiting for a blasting increment in their pay package. Once it is incorporated in law, all can demand their increment. Some political analysts are saying that it is the decision of central govt. to retain government employees in their track considering the upcoming 2019 election. On the passing of the bill by the central govt., not only the salaries of the judges but also the salaries of all govt. employees in India will increase as per the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission.
