Supreme Court expresses concern over the issue of meagre retirement pension of District Judges, matter to be heard on August 27

While hearing the All India Judges Association Case concerning the implementation of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission, the Supreme Court (SC) expressed concern over the issue of meagre retirement pension given to district judges. The bench constituting Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra was hearing the matter. During the proceedings, Attorney General R Venkataramani requested time to address the issue related to the TDS deduction on the allowances paid to judicial officers. The CJI agreed to defer the hearing and shared some thoughts regarding the judicial officer’s meagre pension. He said, “Some of them are from district judiciary retiring with a pension of only Rs 15,000/…We are the guardians of the District Judiciary. As guardians of the district judiciary, what do we do?” Further, the CJI requested the Attorney General and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to sit down together and find a way out. 

While considering this issue, the CJI remarked, “These are district judicial officers. There was a case in which a judicial officer was recommended for appointment to the High Court, and she was told her tenure as the district judge would not be taken into account for pension. She was suffering from cancer.” He added that the SC intervened in the matter and provided her relief. Considering this, the CJI said, “Some of these are extremely hard cases, we have a slew of petitions by district judges who come into the High Court. We tell district judges that for every year of service we will get Rs. 96000 Rs, which is Rs. 8,000 a month. Now typically what happens is that the district judges come to the High Court for anywhere between 56-58 years. They get paid 8,000 Rs a month and then they retire with a pension of Rs. 25,000-30,000 a month.” He added, “Look at their social profile also, they are not going to get commercial work as arbitrators.” The CJI told AG and SG “We are conscious of the financial implications in other segments. But handle this differently. This is about the district judiciary, you see.”  

SG Mehta said, “Since it has fallen from the Bench, we will definitely look into it.” After hearing the matter, the SC bench deferred the hearing on the request of AG Venkataramani and SG Mehta and listed the matter for hearing on August 27, 2024.