Point of Law: Grant of special pay for administrative duties would not, by any stretch of imagination, result in any junior-senior anomaly since it is a special emolument given for extra work done.

JUDGMENT :

The petitioners in these writ petitions are judicial officers who are either working or have retired from service as District and Sessions Judges. The 1st petitioner in W.P.(C) No.13336/2022 is the Kerala Judicial Officers Association. The substantial prayers in these writ petitions is with regard to refixation of pension payable to the petitioners and members of the Association by reckoning special pay which is paid to them as part of their emoluments. The documents are being referred to in this judgment as in W.P.(C) No.694/2022 for convenience, unless otherwise specifically mentioned.

2. Heard Sri.Jaju Babu, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners in W.P.(C) No.13336/2022, Sri.Jacob P. Alex, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in W.P.(C) No.694/2022, Sri.Mathew Skaria, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in W.P.(C) No.6098/2022, Sri.Hariraj Madhav Rajendran, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner in W.P.(C) No.12888/2022 and Sri.Enoch David Simon Joel, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner in W.P.(C) No.17016/2022, Sri.K.R.Ranjith, the learned Government Pleader and Sri.B.G.Harindranath and Sri.Elvin Peter P. J., the learned counsel appearing for the High Court of Kerala.

3. The learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners in W.P.(C) No.13336/2022 submits that all the individual petitioners in these batch of writ petitions except the 2nd petitioner in W.P.(C) No.13336/2022 are retired judicial officers who were receiving special pay at the time of their retirement. The dispute is with regard to counting of the said special pay as well as the Dearness Allowance receivable thereon while calculating the pension and pensionary benefits due. The learned Senior Counsel would contend that the orders passed by the Government treating special pay as a special allowance and that it need not be reckoned for the purpose of fixation of pensionary benefits is perseagainst the directions issued of the Apex Court in the decision reported in All India Judges Association and ors. v. Union of India and ors. [(2002) 4 SCC 247]. It is submitted that the said action is violative of Exts.P6 and P7 judgments of this Court where the refusal to reckon the special pay for pensionary benefits by Ext.P5 order had been set aside by this Court which had been affirmed in appeal. It is submitted that after declaration of law by this Court in Exts.P6 and P7 judgments, it was not open to the Government to pass an order granting the benefits to the petitioner in the writ petition alone as a special case and to deny the benefit to identically situated persons.

4. It is submitted that in compliance with the judgment in All India Judges Association case [(2002) 4 SCC 247], the 1st respondent implemented many of the recommendations of the Shetty Commission by issuing GO (MS) No.231/2001/Home dated 12-12-2001. However, the implementation was not complete and the Supreme Court, by its order dated 20.7.2006, pointed out the shortcomings in the orders issued by the State Governments and directed the Chief Secretaries to rectify them. Thereafter, by Ext.P1 Government Order dated 30-08-2006 additional benefits in accordance with the recommendations of the Pay Commission were granted to members of the District Judiciary. In Ext.P1, it was specifically stated as follows :

“Special Pay

9. Decision on payment of special pay will be taken urgently on the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala's proposal on evolving the principle in the matter (as directed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India), received only on 28/8/06 vide reference cited sixth above.”

It was further provided in Ext.P1 that 50% of the last pay drawn shall be the pension.

5. It is submitted that on 28.3.2009, the Hon'ble Supreme Court vide separate order appointed Justice E. Padmanabhan as One Man Commission to determine the Pay, Allowances and Pension of serving and retired Judicial Officers. With regard to quantum of pension and calculati