Salaries of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), chief justices of the High Courts, and judges of the SC and HCs went up by almost 200 per cent following approval of President Ram Nath Kovind. The hike will bring their salaries at par with bureaucrats.
The President gave his nod for a hike in the salaries of the judges as per the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission.
Following the hike, the CJI will receive a salary of Rs 2.80 lakh, which is Rs 1.80 lakh more than his current salary.
Judges of the Supreme Court and chief justices of the 24 high courts will get a monthly salary of Rs 2.50 lakh. They currently draw Rs 90,000.
Similarly, high court judges will get Rs 2.25 lakh per month, which is Rs 1.45 lakh more than their current salary.
The hike will come into force retrospectively from 1 January 2016. The move will also benefit 2,500 retired judges.
The decision comes at a time when the judiciary is facing a shortage of judges leading to an ever growing number of pending cases.
In January 2017, the apex court had itself pointed at the alarming rise in the number of pending cases as well as shortage of judges.
Reports issued by the SC had suggested that there will be a requirement of 15,000 more judges by 2020 to overcome the situation.
In the 2017 report, it was cited that 2.8 crore cases were pending in district courts across the country.
In December 2017, The Hindu reported that at least 25 per cent of the posts for judges in district and subordinate courts were lying vacant.
(With inputs from PTI.)
