The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of this aspect while dealing with a plea filed in 2015 by the All India Judges Association.
CJI DY Chandrachud today pointed out that district judges may only become High Court judges late in their working years, around the age of 55-60 years.
They often spend their entire life in the judiciary only to be told their years as a district judge would not be counted for the payment of pension at rates applicable to High Court judges, the CJI noted.
The Court expressed concern that these rates are hardly enough to make ends meet, considering that the rate of pension for district judges in certain cases is around ₹8,000 a month.
Such judges are also unlikely to be able to resume any other mode of work after retirement, the CJI added.
“These are district judicial officers. There was a case in which a judicial officer was recommended for appointment to the High Court, and she was told her tenure as the district judge will not be taken into account for pension. She was suffering from cancer. Please look into this. Now district judges are being told that they will be 96,000 per year, 8k per month, as pension. These are the judges who come to High Court at 55 years of age. Now they spend their entire life in the district judiciary and then being told pension not on the basis of this – is something which needs to be looked at. These judges do not get any arbitration etc also,” CJI Chandrachud remarked.
Source: Barandbench
