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2022 Supreme(SC) 1930

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
N.V. Rmana, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli
All India Judges Association - Petitioner
Versus
Union Of India . & Ors. - Respondents
Writ Petition(Civil) No.643/2015
Decided On : 27-07-2022

Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner: Mr. K.M. Nataraj, Ld. ASG, Ms. V. Mohana, Adv., Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Adv., Mr. Rajan Kumar Chourasia, Adv., Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv., Ms. Chinmaee Chandra, Adv., Ms. Shradha Deshmuk, Adv., Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR, Mr. Saket Singh, Adv., Ms. Somya Shree, Adv., Mrs. Niranjana Singh, AOR, Ms. Anisha Upadhyay, AOR, Mr. Vaibhav Kalra, Adv., Mr. Ankur Yadav, AOR, Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR, Mr. B. Balaji, AOR, Mr. Gourab Banerji, Sr. Adv., Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR, Mr. Vyom Raghuvanshi, Adv., Ms. Purvat Wali, Adv., Ms. Akanksha Rathore, Adv., Mr. Subhro Prokas Mukherjee, Adv., Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR, Ms. Pritha Srikumar, AOR, Ms. Mansi Binjrajka, Adv., Mr. S.R. Singh, Sr. Adv., Mr. Mangal Prasad, Adv., Mr. Ajay Yadav, Adv., Mr. Gaurav Lomes, Adv., Mr. Prithvi Yadav, Adv., Mr. Tushar Bakshi, AOR, Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Adv., Ms. Aparna Bhat, AOR, Ms. Karishma Maria, Adv., Mr. N.K. Mody, Sr. Adv., Mr. Probuddha Singh, Adv., For M/s. Pareekh & Co., AOR, Mr. Nitin Singh, Adv., Mr. Shashank Shekhar, Adv., Mr. Apoorva Singh, Adv.
For the Respondent: Mr. Sharan Thakur, Adv., Mr. Mahesh Thakur, AOR, Mr. Siddharth Thakur, Adv., Ms. Vipasha Singh, Adv., Mr. Ajay Kanojiya, Adv., Mr. Bishwendra N. Singh, Adv., Mr. Navamiti Pd. Singh, Sr. Adv., Mr. Shantanu Sagar, AOR, Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv., Mr. K.M. Nataraj, ASG, Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Adv., Mr. D.L. Chidananda, Adv., Ms. Neela Kedar Gokhale, Adv., Mr. Rajan Kumar Chourasia, Adv., Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR, Mr. K.M. Nataraj, ASG, Ms. Madhavi Goradia Divan,ASG, , Ms. V. Mohana, Sr. Adv., Ms. Kiran Suri, Sr. Adv., Mr. Sarad Singhania, Adv., Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Adv., Mr. Anmol Chandan, Adv., Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv., Mr. T.S. Sabarish, Adv., Mr. Ayush Puri, Adv., Ms. Nidhi Khanna, Adv., Mr. T.S. Shabarwal, Adv., Mr. Mohd. Akhil, Adv., Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Adv., Mr. Rajan Kr. Chourasia, Adv., Ms. Neela Kedar Gokhale, Adv., MR. Anuj Srinivas Udopa, Adv., Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR, Mr. Divyakant Lahoti, AOR, Mr. Shashank Garg, Adv., Mr. Parikshit Ahuja, Adv., Ms. Praveena Bisht, Adv., Ms. Madhur Jhavar, Adv., Mr. Kartik Lahoti, Adv., Ms. Vindhya Mehra, Adv., Ms. Nishtha Jain, Adv., Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR, Mr. K.N. Balgopal, Sr. Adv., Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR, Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv., Ms. Nitya Nambiar, Adv., Mr. Vitso Rio, Adv., Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv., Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv., Mr. Abhinav Bajaj, Adv., Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR, Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv., Mr. Sudhanshu S. Choudhari, AOR, Mr. P. I. Jose, AOR, Mr. Prashant K. Sharma, Adv., Mr. Jenis Francis, Adv,, Mr. James P. Thomas, Adv., Mr. Alok K. Prasad, Adv., Mr. Anipam Mishra, Adv., , Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR, Ms. Ragini Pandey, Adv., Mr. Anandh Kannan N., AOR, Mr. Shridhar Y. Chitale, Adv., Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR, Mr. Pratap Venugopal, AOR, Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, AOR, Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR, Ms. Amrita Verma, Adv., Mr. D. K. Devesh, AOR, Mr. Abhinav S. Raghuvanshi, Adv., Mr. Apurv S., Adv., Mr. Suprabh Kumar Roshan, Adv., Mr. Upendra Pratap Singh, Adv., Mr. Harsh Singh Rawat, Adv., Ms. Snehal U. Kanzarkar, Adv., Ms. Kavita Jha, AOR, Mr. Adteya Bali, Adv., Mr. Apoorv Kurup, AOR, Ms. Nidhi Mittal, Adv., Ms. Mukti Chaudhry, AOR, Mr. Abhay Anil Anturkar, Adv., Ms. Bhavya Pande, Adv., Mr. Dhruv Tank, Adv., For M/s. Dr. R.S. Deshpande And Associates, AOR, Mr. Barun Kumar Sinha, Adv., Mr. Kumar Anurag Singh, Adv., Ms. Pallavi Langar, AOR, Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR, Mr. Sandeep Sudhakar Deshmukh, AOR, Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR, Mr. G. Prakash, AOR, Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR, , Mr. Malak Manish Bhatt, AOR, Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, AOR, Mrs. Rajshree Dubey, Adv., Mr. Abhishek Chauhan, Adv., Mr. Ashwani Kumar, Adv., Mr. Amit P. Shahi, Adv., Mr. Amit Kumar, Adv., Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR, Ms. Samten Doma, Adv., Mr. Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar, AOR, Mr. K.M. Nataraj, Ld. ASG, Mr. S. Wasim A. Qadri, Sr. Adv., Mr. S.A. Qudi Singh, Adv., Mr. Mukesh Kumar Verma, Adv., Mr. P.R. Rajesh, Adv., Mr. G. Sante Sheme, Adv., Ms. Sunita Sharma, Adv., Mr. Anmol Chandan, Adv., Ms. Neela Kedar Gokhle, Adv., Mr. Mohd. Akhil, Adv., Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv., Mr. Anirudh Sharma, Adv., Mr. Anuj Srinivas Udupa, Adv., Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR, Mr. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR, Mr. Nikhil Goel, AOR, Ms. Aakanksha Kaul, Adv., Ms. Garima Bajaj, AOR, Ms. Pragati Neekhra, AOR, Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR, Ms. Pratyusha Priyadarshini, Adv., For M/s.Parekh & Co., AOR, Ms. Radhika Gautam, AOR, Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR, Mr. Barun Kr. Sinha, AAG, Mr. Kumar Anurag Singh, Adv., Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR, , Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv., Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, Adv., Mr. Anand Kumar Dubey, Adv., Simanta Kumar, Adv., Mr. Nishant Verma, Adv., Ms. Rajlakshmi Singh, Adv., Mr. Sunil Saraogi, Adv., Mr. Varun Singh, Adv., Mr. Narendra Kumar, AOR, Mr. A. Radhakrishnan, AOR, Ms. Komal Mundhra, AAG, Mr. Raghavendra S.Srivatsa, AOR, Mr. Venkta Subramanian T.R., Adv., Mr. Rahat Bansal, Adv., Mr. Likhi Chand Bonsle, Adv., Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR, Ms. Anu K. Joy, Adv., Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv., Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR, Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Adv., Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Adv., Mr. Praveen Kr. Singh, Adv., For M/s.Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR, Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, AOR, Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, AOR, Mr. Arjun Garg, AOR, Mr. Shobhit Jain, Adv., Mr. Aakash Nandolia, Adv., Ms. Sagun Srivastava, Adv., Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR, Mr. Polanki Gowtham, Adv., Mr. Shaik Mohamad Haneef, Adv., Mr. T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Adv., Mr. K.V. Girish Chowdary, Adv., M. Rajeswari Mukherjee, Adv., Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR, Mr. Manoj Goel, Sr. Adv., Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR, , Mr. Shreyas Balaji, Adv., Mr. Kabir Shankar Bose, Adv., Mr. Arnav Singh Deo, Adv., Mr. Samrat K. Shinde, Adv., Mr. Rahul Chitnis, Adv., Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR, Mr. Aaditya A. Pande, Adv., Mr. Geo Joseph, Adv., Ms. Shweta Shepal, Adv., Mr. Abhinav Singh, Adv., Mr. Nirvikar Singh, Adv., Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR, Ms. Aswathi M.k., AOR, Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR, Mr. Arun Bhardwaj, Sr. Adv., Mr. Piyush Hans, Adv., Ms. Annu Singh, Adv., Mr. Naveen Gupta, Adv., Ms. Gauraan, Adv., Mr. Abhishek Sharma, Adv., Mr. Bhaskar Bhardwaj, Adv., Mr. Piyush Gaur, Adv., Mr. Vishwa Pal Singh, AOR, Ms. Taruna Ardhendumauli Prasad, AOR, Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR, Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv., Ms. Anupam Ngangom, Adv., Mr. Wahengbam Immanuel Meitei, Adv., Mr. Nikhil Goel, AAG, Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR, Mr. Adithya Roy, Adv., Mr. Sanjai Kumar Pathak, AOR, Mr. Arvind Kumar Tripathi, Adv., Mrs. Shashi Pathak, Adv., Mr. Saurabh Mishra, Ld. AAG, Mr. Manoj Kumar, Adv., Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR, Mr. Siddhesh Kotwal, Adv., Ms. Ana Upadhyay, Adv., , Ms. Manya Hasija, Adv., Mr. Akash Singh, Adv., Mr. Nihar Dharmadhikari, Adv., Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR, Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR, Mr. Shaurya Sahay, Adv., Mr. Upendra Mishra, Adv., Mr. T.K. Nayak, Adv., Mr. Marbiany Khongwir, Adv., Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR, Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra, AOR, Mr. Debabrata Dash, Adv., Mr. Umakant Mishra, Adv., Mr. Rajesh Kumar Nayak, Adv., Mr. Niranjan Sahu, Adv., Mr. Prateek K. Chadha, AAG, Mr. Shashwat Mehra, Adv., Mr. Ketan Paul, AOR, Ms. Ayushi Rajput, Adv., Mr. Mukul Kumar, AOR, Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR, Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Adv., Ms. Pratishtha Vij, Adv., Mr. Akshay C. Shrivastava, Adv., Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR, Mr. Abhinav Mishra, Adv., Ms. Nishi Sangtani, Adv., Ms. Vani Vandana Chhetri, Adv., Ms. Yeshi Rinchhen, Adv., Ms. Pooja Singh, Adv., Mr. Harsh, Adv., Mr. Amish Tandon, Adv., Mr. Ayush Beotra, Adv., Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR, Mr. V. Krishnamurthy, Sr. Adv., Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., AOR, Ms. Nupur Sharma, Adv., Mr. Shobhit Dwivdi, Adv., Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Mahara, Adv., Ms. Richa Vishwakarma, Adv., , Mr. V. Balachandran, Adv., Mr. Siddharth Naidu, Adv., For M/s. KSN & Co., AOR, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, AOR, Mr. Prabhat Kumar Rai, Adv., Mr. Ajay Kumar Pandey, Adv., Mr. Yagyawalkya Singh, Adv., Mr. Sudarshan Singh Rawat, AOR, Mr. Ashutosh Sharma, Adv., Mr. Sunny Sachin Rawat, Adv., Ms. Saakshi S. Rawat, Adv., Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR, Ms. Sweena Nair, Adv., Mr. P. Mohith Rao, Adv., Mr. Parijat Sinha, AOR, Ms. Uttara Babbar, AOR, Mr. Anirudh Ramakrishnan, Adv., Ms. Shipra Jain, Adv., Mr. Manpreet S. Doabia, Adv., Ms. Kiran Bhardwaj, AOR, Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR, Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR, Mr. Amandeep Mehta, Adv., Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR, Ms. Sajal Singhai, Adv., Mr. Aravindh S., AOR, Ms. A. Lakshmi Narayanan, Adv., Ms. Preetika Dwivedi, AOR, Mr. Abhishek Mohanty, Adv., Ms. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, AOR, Mr. Anant, Adv., Mr. Jaideep Gupta, Sr. Adv., Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR, Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Adv., Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv., Mr. Gautam Narayan, AOR, , Ms. Asmita Singh, Adv., Mr. Anupam Raina, AOR, Mr. Sunando Raha, Adv., Ms. Madhavi Goradia Divan, Ld. ASG, Ms. Kiran Suri, Sr. Adv., Mr. Arijit Prasad, Sr. Adv., Mr. Bharat Singh, Adv., Mr. Prashant Singh, Adv., Mr. Shashank Bajpai, Adv., Mr. Shubhankar Singh, Adv., Ms. Gargi Khanna, Adv., Mr. Anmol Chandan, Adv., Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Adv., Mr. T.S. Sabarish, Adv., Mr. Anuj Srinivas Udupa, Adv., Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR, Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR, Mr. Rishi Maheshwari, Adv., Ms. Anne Mathew, Adv., Mr. Bharat Sood, Adv., Ms. Shruti Jose, Adv., Mr. Rohit K. Singh, AOR, Mr. Farrukh Rasheed, AOR, Mr. T. V. Ratnam, AOR, Mr. Vinay Arora, AOR, Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, AOR, Ms. M.V. Rama, Adv., Ms. Divya, Adv., Mr. K. Sriram, Adv., Mr. Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Sr. Adv., Mr. Aviral Saxena, AOR, Mr. Vikas Jain, Adv., Mr. Diyant Mishra, Adv., Manjeet Rathore, Adv., Mr. Ankur Kashyap, AOR, Mr. Ajith S. Ranganathan, Adv., Mr. Rohit Rajershi, Adv., Mr. Aman Bajaj, Adv., , Mr. V. Giri, Sr. Adv., Mr. Joydeep Roy, Adv., Mr. Gopal Jha, AOR, Mr. Umesh Kumar Yadav, Adv., Mr. Uday B. Dube, AOR, Mr. K.Parameshwar, AOR(Amicus Curiae), Ms. A. Sregurupriya, Adv., Mr. M.V. Mukunda, Adv., Ms. Madhavi S. Sawant, Adv., Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv., Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv., Dr. Vivek Sharma, Adv., Ms. Kavita S. More, Adv., Mr. Subhash S. Kadam, Adv.

The main legal point established in the judgment is the acceptance and implementation of the revised pay structure recommended by SNJPC for judicial officers, with a focus on the effective date and arrears payment.

Headnote:

Judicial Pay Structure - Revision of Pay Structure - All India Judges’ Association vs. Union of India - 1992 Act 1, 1993 Act 4, 2002 Act 4, 2011 Act 12 - The court discussed the evolution of judicial pay structure, the recommendations of various judicial pay commissions, and the need for immediate implementation of revised pay structure for judicial officers.

Fact of the Case:

The case involved the revision of the pay structure for judicial officers, with a focus on the recommendations of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) and the need for immediate implementation.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the revision of the pay structure as recommended by SNJPC should be accepted and implemented with effect from 01.01.2016. It also directed the payment of arrears in stages and emphasized the need for compliance by the State Governments/Union Territories.

Issues: The main issue was the revision of the judicial pay structure and the application of the multiplier, as well as the effective date and arrears payment.

Ratio Decidendi: The court decided to accept the recommendations of SNJPC for the revision of the pay structure, with implementation from 01.01.2016, and directed the payment of arrears in stages. It also emphasized the need for compliance by the State Governments/Union Territories.

Final Decision: The court granted permission to withdraw one writ petition and directed the listing of other related matters. It also directed the filing of compliance affidavits by the State Governments/Union Territories and emphasized the need for immediate implementation of the revised pay structure.

ORDER :

1. In All India Judges’ Association vs. Union of India, (1992) 1 SCC 119, (All India Judges’ Association Case-I), this Court had issued a slew of directions, which included (i) the setting up of an All India Judicial Service; (ii) bringing about uniformity in the designation of officers; (iii) raising of the age of retirement to 60 years; (iv) provision of residential accommodation to judicial officers etc. One of the directions so issued, which is relevant for our present purpose, reads as follows:-

    “63(iv) As and when the Pay Commissions/Committees are set up in the States and Union Territories, the question of appropriate pay scales of judicial officers be specifically referred and considered.”

2. Petitions for reviewing the aforesaid Judgment were filed by the Union of India as well as by various States, objecting to certain specific directions contained therein. These review petitions were disposed of by this Court by an Order dated 24.08.1993 in All India Judges’ Association vs. Union of India, (1993) 4 SCC 288 , which came to be referred to as All India Judges’ Association Case-II. Though certain directions issued in All India Judges’ Association-I were modified in the judgment in All India Judges’ Association Case-II, the above direction contained in paragraph 63(iv) of the original judgment was not modified.

3. In All India Judges’ Association Case-II, the necessity to maintain parity in status between the Judges and the Political Executive, and not between the Judges and the Administrative Executive, was highlighted. It will be appropriate to quote the first part of paragraph 36 of the decision in All India Judges Association Case-II :

    “we have already discussed the need to make a distinction between the political and the administrative executive and to appreciate that parity in status can only be between Judges and the political executive and not between Judges and the Administrative executive. Hence the earlier approach of comparison between the service conditions of the Judges and those of the administrative executive has to be abandoned and the service conditions of the Judges which are wrongly linked to those of the administrative executive have to be revised to meet the special needs of the judicial service.”

4. Moreover, this Court highlighted in All India Judges’ Association Case-II, the need to keep Judges above their essential wants, considering the distinct nature of Judges’ duties, the society’s expectations, the lifestyle of the Judge and the occupational hazards to which he is exposed.

5. Subsequently the Government of India constituted the First National Judicial Pay Commission (FNJPC) under the Chairmanship of Mr. Justice K.J. Shetty. As a consequence, the reference to the 5th Central Pay Commission, of the question of revision of pay scales of judicial officers was dropped.

6. The FNJPC submitted its Report on 11.11.1999 recommending adoption of what is known as ‘Master Pay Scales’ comprising of 44 stages. The Commission recommended fixed quantum increments with six incremental rates from Rs.250 to Rs.500, spanning over 44 specified stages.

7. By a judgment dated 21.03.2002 passed in All India Judges’ Association vs. Union of India, (2002) 4 SCC 247, (All India Judges’ Association Case-III), this Court recommended the implementation of the revised scales of pay with effect from 1.07.1996. However, it was directed that the judicial officers shall be paid salary in revised pay scales with effect from 1.07.2002 and the arrears of salary for the period from 1.07.1996 to 30.06.2002 was directed to be paid either in cash or by crediting the same into the provident fund accounts of the officers.

8. After the constitution of the 6th Central Pay Commission, the question of revision of the scales of pay of judicial officers came up once again before this Court in All India Judges’ Association vs. Union of India, (2011) 12 SCC 677, (All India Judges’ Association Case-IV). By an order dated 28.04.2009 this Cour


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