Bills to raise salaries of Supreme Court and High Court judges introduced in Lok Sabha
The bills propose to increase their remuneration by nearly three times.
The Centre introduced two bills proposing to raise the salaries of Supreme Court and High Court judges by nearly three times in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, PTI reported.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced the amendment bills for Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958 and High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954.
According to the proposals, the chief justice of India will get Rs 2.8 lakh per month, while other judges of the Supreme Court and chief justices of High Courts will get Rs 2.5 lakh a month. High Court judges will get Rs 2.25 lakh per month if the bill becomes law.
The chief justice of India currently gets Rs 1 lakh, Supreme Court judges and High Court chief justices get Rs 90,000, and other High Court judges get Rs 80,000 a month.
The Union Cabinet had approved the proposal in November. The increased salaries and pensions for retired judges will be effective retrospectively from January 1, 2016, Prasad had then said.
The move is expected to benefit 31 judges of the Supreme Court, 1,079 judges of High Courts and about 2,500 retired judges. Currently, the Supreme Court has 25 judges, while the High Courts have 682.
The increase in salaries is in line with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.