One rank, one pension for High Court judges: Government to amend law

News:

• Government plans to bring a bill to rectify an anomaly as per which judges selected from the Bar get lesser pension than those elevated from state judicial services.
• The proposal to amend the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954, comes more than a year after the Supreme Court ruled that such a discrepancy must be removed.
• The Law Ministry plans to bring the bill in the Monsoon session of Parliament beginning July 21.
• According to the apex court ruling, if the service of a judicial officer is counted for fixation of pension, there is “no valid reason” as to why the experience at Bar cannot be treated as equivalent for the same purpose.
• The apex court ruling came on a clutch of petitions filed by former judges of various High Courts as well as by the Association of the Retired Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts elevated from the Bar.
• The petitions said that while Part-I and Part-III judges hold equivalent posts, they are not similarly situated with regard to pension and retirement benefits which is breach of fundamental rights under Articles 14 (equality) and 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution.

Source: ET