In any democratic country, its judicial system holds very importance in the society. The high court is the judicial system provided to each state whereas Supreme Court is the central level judicial system. The judges of the Supreme Court and high court are paid with a handsome amount, this is to ensure fair justice if the judge is paid a good sum of money then he can’t be bought off. Therefore, a judge’s salary has to be raised and better allowances are provided from time to time.
Recently, on 21 December 2017 The High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2017 was introduced in Lok Sabha, by Mr. Ravi Prasad Shankar; the minister for law and justice. The act tries to renew the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954; and the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958. The aim of these activities is to provide a standard for the salaries and conditions of service of the high court and Supreme Court judges. The bill has been brought into action by 1st January 2018. The two acts also provide a handsome amount of allowance to the judges for the expenses incurred on account of entertaining visitors. Under the bill, the salary of the judges is increased by about 180%. For instance, The salary of chief justice was 1,00,000 before the bill now the salary of the Chief Justice is 2,80,000 per month.
Further, the act allows the judges to stay in the official resident without rent, and if not then they will be allowed monthly allowance equal to 30% of their salary, the bill may be revised to 24%. Furthermore, the bill is to revise that if the D.A.(Dearness Allowance) increases to 25%, the rent allowance will be 27% of their salary, and if the D.A. is more than 50% then this allowance will be 30% of their salary.
The two acts also give a precedent for pensions of the high court and Supreme Court judges. The bill seeks to provide pension to judges under both category 1) if they have previously held a pensionable post under the central or state governments, or 2) if they have not held any such post. The pension of a Chief Justice of India was 6,00,000 p.a. now after the bill, the pension is 16,80,000 p.a.
