NEW DELHI: Cheering most senior court judges who retire into a quiet life, Supreme Court on Monday ordered that all retired HC judges, irrespective of their source of recruitment - whether from the district judiciary or the bar - would be entitled to a uniform basic pension of Rs 13.5 lakh per annum.
Six months ago on Dec 17, a bench headed by Justice B R Gavai had termed it "pitiable" that some retired HC judges are being paid a pension of Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 per month and had sought attorney general R Venkataramani's intervention to sort this out for a dignified retired life of HC judges.
Delivering the judgment, Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices A G Mashih and K Vinod Chandran rectified the brazen disparity in pension of retired HC judges owing to their source of recruitment. It said the district judges, appointed as HC judges, on retirement cannot be given much lower pension by discounting their prior judicial service.
Writing the judgment, CJI Gavai said, "We direct that the Union of India shall follow the principle of 'One Rank, One Pension' (OROP) to all retired HC judges irrespective of their source of entry i.e., district judiciary or the bar, and irrespective of number of years that they have served either as a district judge or a HC judge and all of them shall be paid full pension."
"When all the judges of HC, when in office, are entitled to the same salary, perks and benefits, any discrimination amongst them on the ground of their source of entry, in our view, would be patently discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution," he said.
"We, therefore, hold that all retired HC judges irrespective of the date on which they were appointed would be entitled to receive the full pension at the rate of Rs 13.5 lakh as basic pension per annum," the bench said, and erased the pension disparity from state to state, an issue which was flagged by the AG. A retired CJ of a HC would get a pension of Rs 15 lakh a year.
The district judges, who were covered under the contributory new pension scheme, would be entitled to get back the amounts contributed by them with dividends, SC said. As far as family pension, paid to relatives of a judge dying in harness, the bench said there cannot be any distinction between an ad hoc judge and a permanent judge and that widows of both categories of HC judges would also get identical amounts.
Six months ago on Dec 17, a bench headed by Justice B R Gavai had termed it "pitiable" that some retired HC judges are being paid a pension of Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 per month and had sought attorney general R Venkataramani's intervention to sort this out for a dignified retired life of HC judges.
Delivering the judgment, Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices A G Mashih and K Vinod Chandran rectified the brazen disparity in pension of retired HC judges owing to their source of recruitment. It said the district judges, appointed as HC judges, on retirement cannot be given much lower pension by discounting their prior judicial service.
Writing the judgment, CJI Gavai said, "We direct that the Union of India shall follow the principle of 'One Rank, One Pension' (OROP) to all retired HC judges irrespective of their source of entry i.e., district judiciary or the bar, and irrespective of number of years that they have served either as a district judge or a HC judge and all of them shall be paid full pension."
"When all the judges of HC, when in office, are entitled to the same salary, perks and benefits, any discrimination amongst them on the ground of their source of entry, in our view, would be patently discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution," he said.
"We, therefore, hold that all retired HC judges irrespective of the date on which they were appointed would be entitled to receive the full pension at the rate of Rs 13.5 lakh as basic pension per annum," the bench said, and erased the pension disparity from state to state, an issue which was flagged by the AG. A retired CJ of a HC would get a pension of Rs 15 lakh a year.
The district judges, who were covered under the contributory new pension scheme, would be entitled to get back the amounts contributed by them with dividends, SC said. As far as family pension, paid to relatives of a judge dying in harness, the bench said there cannot be any distinction between an ad hoc judge and a permanent judge and that widows of both categories of HC judges would also get identical amounts.
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