ALL INDIA JUDGES ASSOCIATION Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Prayer in this application is to revise the scales of pay of members of the subordinate judiciary viz. Civil Judges (Junior Division), Civil Judges (Senior Division), District Judges (Entry Level), District Judges (Selection Grade) and District Judges (Super Time Scale).

(2.) In the Justice Shetty Commission Report at p. 981 it is observed that in case the salary of the High Court Judges is revised upward at any time, the pay scales of judicial officers in all the cadres should also be suitably revised upward by maintaining the respective ratio. It was noticed that the basic pay of Civil Judges (Junior Division), Civil Judges (Senior Division), District Judges (Entry Level), District Judges (Selection Grade) and District Judges (Super Timescale) works out at 42.3%, 58.5%, 71.6%, 80% and 91.7% respectively of the then salary of the High Court Judges. This recommendation of the Justice Shetty Commission was considered by this Court in All India Judges Assn. (3) v. Union of India, 2002 4 SCC 247: 2002 SCC (L&S) 508 (para 20) and subject to various modifications in the said judgment, all other recommendations including the time to time revision of pay scales suggested by the Shetty Commission have been accepted.

(3.) The salary of the High Court Judges has been recently revised by passing an ordinance viz. the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Ordinance, 2009 which has been published in the Gazette of India vide Notification dated 9-1-2009 and subsequently the Ordinance has become an Act of Parliament. In view of the revision of the salary of the High Court Judges, the pay scales of the judicial officers require upward revision. For the said purpose, appropriate scales of pay are to be determined having due regard to the recommendations of the Justice Shetty Commission.