The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday took note of compliance affidavits of 18 states and union territories and passed an order to shut down proceeding against them. The Chief Secretaries of these states and union territories physically came in the court today regarding non implementation of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) regarding payment of pension arrears and retirement benefit of judicial officers.
The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Mishra said the Chief Secretaries and Finance Secretaries of states that have complied with direction of top court on payment of arrears regarding pay, pension and allowance to judicial officers need not appear before the top court anymore.
The court said, ” we have no pleasure in calling the chief and finance secretaries of the state, but consistently the counsels of states have been absent during the hearings”.
The court had issued notice to the top bureaucrats of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Bihar, Goa, Haryana and Odisha to appear before it on Tuesday.
The direction came after senior lawyer K Parmeswar, assisting the court in the case as amicus curiae, said that 18 states and union territories had failed to implement the SNJPC recommendations fully despite several orders and extension of time.
The All India Judges Association (AIJA) has demanded implementation of welfare and number of other measures for former judges and judicial officers.
