Centre yet to notify appointment of Commission to review emoluments of subordinate judiciary

Centre yet to notify appointment of Commission to review emoluments of subordinate judiciary

Five months have passed since the Supreme Court ordered setting up of a two-member Commission to examine the present structure of emoluments and conditions of service of judges of subordinate judiciary.

The Commission is yet to start its functioning, thanks to Executive apathy.

The Centre has not issued any formal order constituting the Commission or providing infrastructure and staff for its members.

The only step taken till date is allocation of two rooms at the Guest House of Delhi High Court, one for the Chairman and other for the Secretary.

Further, the Court had also directed the Centre to nominate one of the Additional Solicitor Generals to assist the Commission. The same has also not been done.

It was on May 9, that the Supreme Court had constituted the Commission to examine the present structure of emoluments and conditions of service of judges of subordinate judiciary. The Commission was to be headed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice P Venkatarama Reddy with Senior Advocate and former Kerala High Court judge R Basant as its member.

The order to that effect was passed by Justices Jasti Chelameswar and S Abdul Nazeer in a 2015 petition filed by All India Judges Association.

The Court had also noted in its order that the Chairman of the Commission will be entitled to salary and other allowances payable to a sitting Supreme Court judge while the member would be entitled to draw the salary and the other monetary allowances payable to a sitting judge of a High Court. The Court had also directed the Central government to provide the services of one of the Additional Solicitor Generals to the Commission.

Further, the Court had also ordered the Central government to provide necessary infrastructural support and staff as required by the Commission.

The Commission was directed to submit its report to the Court preferably within eighteen months.

Five months having passed with no substantial progress, compliance with this deadline seems to be an uphill task now.

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