New Delhi: After a more than four-hour-long discussion where 18 MPs spoke, the Lok Sabha passed the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2017, a bill to up the salaries of judges of the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts on Thursday.
The bill will now move to the Rajya Sabha where it is expected to pass muster as most parties, including the Opposition, have expressed their support to the bill. But with Friday being the last working day of the Winter Session of Parliament, if the Upper House doesn’t pass the bill, the proposed salary hike for the SC and HC judges willl have to wait till the Budget Session.
Once the bill becomes a law after final parliamentary approval, the Chief Justice of India will get a monthly salary of Rs 2.80 lakh from the present Rs 1 lakh, while other judges of the apex court and chief justices of the high courts will get a monthly salary of Rs 2.50 lakh from the current Rs 90,000 and high court judges will take home Rs 2.25 lakh per month, up from Rs 80,000 per month now.
The salary hike, which is in line with the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for officers of all-India services, will come into force retrospectively from January 1, 2016.
The bill also seeks to revise the rates of house rent allowance with effect from July 1, 2017 and the rates of sumptuary allowance with effect from September 22, 2017.
During the discussion, Lok Sabha MPs, cutting across party lines, stressed on the supremacy of Parliament over judiciary even as they underscored that the judiciary should refrain from “framing” laws and getting into the domain of the legislature.
“Legislation should be left to Parliament... Day by day the conflict is emerging and unless it is stopped by the judiciary, in 10-15 years, there will be a direct conflict between judiciary and Parliament,” Kalyan Banerjee (TMC) said.
Agreeing with Mr Banerjee, deputy speaker M. Thambidurai, who was in the Chair, said the judiciary’s function is to interpret the law. “They can’t legislate the law.”
