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Higher pay, longer hours recommended for judges

The first National Judicial Pay Commission today recommended higher pay scales and emoluments for the subordinate judiciary with added responsibilities and longer hours of work to clear the pendency of cases.

The Commission headed by former Supreme Court justice K Jagannatha Shetty has recommended that the Centre bear 50 per cent of the expenses on the judiciary.

It has also recommended increase in the age of retirement to 62 for the subordinate court judges and doing away with screening their performance at the fag end of their careers.

The 76-page report, which was submitted to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will entail a financial burden of Rs 950.71 million.

The judicial pay commission, the first of its kind among all the Commonwealth countries and constituted following a Supreme Court directive to determine the service conditions of judicial officers, favoured the constitution of an all-India cadre and the amalgamation of multiple cadres in the judicial service to three uniform cadres -- civil judges, civil judges (senior) and district judges.

Considering the large pendency of cases, it suggested one hour additional sitting every day besides reducing the number of vacations by 15 days. It did not favour the idea of Union law Minister Ram Jethmalani that there should be double shift courts because it was not practical and there would be opposition from the lawyers who had to commute long distances in big cities.

While favouring the doing away with the screening of judges at the age of 58, Justice Shetty said a review should be done of all judicial officers at the age of 50, 55 and 60 years for compulsory retirement through the procedure prescribed by the respective service rules. The entry age to the judiciary has been prescribed at 35 to 45 years. This will dispense with the campus recruitment concept.

The Judicial Pay Commission has evolved the following pay scales for three cadres in the state judicial service:

( a) Civil Judge (junior division): Rs 9000-250-10750-300-13150-350-14550.

( b) Civil Judge (senior division): Rs 12850-300-13150-350-15950-400-17550.

( c) District Judge: Rs 16750-400-19150-450-20500.

( viii) Assured career progression scheme for civil judges (junior division) and civil judges (senior division) have been formulated as follows:

( a) Civil Judge (junior division): Rs 10750-300-13150-350-14900.

( b) Civil Judge(senior division): Rs 12850-300-13150-350-15950-400-17550.

( c) Civil Judge (senior division): Rs 14200-350-15950-400-18350.

( d) Civil Judge (senior division): Rs 16750-400-19150-450-20500.

( ix) Two functional scales are provided for district judges as follows:

( a) District Judge (selection grade): Rs 18750-400-19150-450-21850-500-22850.

( b) District Judge (supreme scale): Rs 22850-500-24850.

UNI

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