Supreme Court summons Chief Secretaries over pay panel non-compliance

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, July 11

The Supreme Court on Thursday summoned chief secretaries and finance secretaries of 21 states and UTs, including that of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, for failing to clear the arrears of revised salary and pension of judicial officers as per recommendations of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission.

Seven opportunities given

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Though seven opportunities have been granted to the states, it appears full compliance has not been effected…. We know how to extract compliance now. If we just say that the chief secretary will be present if the affidavit is not filed, then it will not be filed…. Let them be personally present now. SC Bench

“Though seven opportunities have been granted to the states, it appears full compliance has not been effected,” said a three-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud, directing them to remain personally present before it with compliance affidavits on August 23, the next date of hearing.

“We know how to extract compliance now. If we just say that the chief secretary will be present if the affidavit is not filed, then it will not be filed. We are not sending them to jail, but let them be here and then an affidavit will be submitted. Let them be personally present now,” it said.

“The chief secretaries and finance secretaries have to be personally present. Failing compliance, the court will be constrained to initiate contempt,” warned the Bench that also included Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.

The other 18 states/UTs whose chief secretaries and finance secretaries have been ordered to personally appear before it are: Delhi, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Orissa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.

It directed all defaulting states to file compliance reports by August 20 and asked their chief secretaries and finance secretaries to appear personally on August 23.

Expressing strong displeasure over the failure of states to implement the recommendations of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission, the Bench made it clear that it would not grant any further extension.

The order came after amicus curiae K Parmeswar apprised the Bench of the latest status on the implementation of the commission’s recommendations that covered pay structure, pension and family pension and allowances, besides dealing with the issue of establishing a permanent mechanism to determine subjects of service conditions of the district judiciary.

As Parmeswar referred to tax deduction at source (TDS) by states on allowances due to be paid to serving and retired judicial officers, the Bench said, “Wherever exemptions are available under the Income Tax Act from deduction of TDS on allowances, the state governments shall ensure that no deductions are made. Wherever TDS is wrongly deducted, the amount shall be refunded to judicial officers.”