Supreme Court should not to compelled in respect of pay scale and conditions of services of the subordinate judiciary. [Read the Order]

The three-Judge Bench comprising of CJI S.A Bobde, Justice B.R Gavai & Justice Surya Kant appointed Mr. P.S Narasimha, Ld. Senior Counsel as an amicus curiae to assist the court
and also appointed. Shri K. Parameshwar as an amicus curiae to assist him and also order that they shall consider what institutional mechanisms can be put in place to ensure that Supreme

The Top Court should not be compelled to intervene every time in respect of pay scales and conditions of service in respect of the Subordinate Judiciary.

CASE DETAILS:
The Petitioner herein are All India Judges Association who filed a writ petition seeking the appointment of another pay commission under the Chairmanship of Justice P. Venkatarama Reddi regarding the pay pension & allowances of the judicial officers and the commission submits its report on 29th Jan ’20.

The bench in its order referred to the judgment of:

ALL INDIA JUDGES ASSOCIATION v. UNION OF INDIA 1992 1 SCC 119, in which the Supreme Court considered questions as to pay scales and services conditions of the members of the subordinate judiciary, it was directed the states and Union Territory to separately examine and review for its employees.

The Supreme Court disposed of the objections as of employment in the case of ALL INDIA JUDGES ASSOCIATION v. UNION OF INDIA 1993 4 SCC 288, in which court held that  Judicial service is not a service in the sense of employment & judges are not employees & in addition, recommended that the services of Judicial Officer should be laid down and reviewed from time to time & pursuant to it an Independent National Judicial Pay Commission was been established.

The recommendations by the commission were accepted by the court in the case of ALL INDIA JUDGES ASSOCIATION V. UNION OF INDIA (2002) 4 SCC 247, It also directed the Union of India and the states to implement the judgment and report compliance.

However, the Court in ALL INDIA JUDGES ASSOCIATION V. UNION OF INDIA (2011) 12 SCC 677 was impelled to intervene and set up a Pay Commission.

In view of the above observations, the Court order that the respective state governments and Union Territories are directed to file their responses with respect to each recommendation, if any, within a period of four weeks from today.

The order has been passed by CJI S.A Bobde, Justice B.R Gavai & Justice Surya Kant on 28-02-2020.

Read Order Here:

By: Rishabh Bhandari

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