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TMI Blog2001 (2) TMI 1023X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... icers be raised to 60 years and appropriate steps are to be taken by December 31, 1992. (iv) As and when the pay commission/committees are set up in the States and Union territories, the question of appropriate pay scales of judicial officers be specifically referred and considered. (v) A working library at the residence of every judicial officer has to be provided by June 30, 1992. Provision for sumptuary allowance as stated has to be made. (vi) Residential accommodation to every judicial officer has to be provided and until State accommodation is available, government should provide requisitioned accommodation for them in the manner indicated by December 31, 1992. In providing residential accommodation, availability of an office room should be kept in view. (vii) Every District Judge and Chief Judicial Magistrate should have a State vehicle, judicial officers in sets of five should have a pool vehicle and others would be entitled to suitable loans to acquire two wheeler automobiles within different time limits as specified. (viii) In-service institute should be set up within one year at the Central and State or Union territory level. 3. A number of directions which wer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rden caused on account of the said directions is negligible. We should have thought that such plea was not raised to resist the discharge of the mandatory duties. The contention that the resources of all the States are not uniform, has also to be rejected for the same reasons. The directions prescribe the minimum necessary service conditions and facilities for the proper administration of justice. We believe that the quality of justice administered and the calibre of the persons appointed to administer it are not of different grades in different States. Such contentions are ill-suited to the issues involved in the present case. (v) The directions given in the main judgment dated 13-11-1991 were maintained except as regards the following: (a) para 52 (a), page 314: The legal practice for of 3 years should be made one of the essential qualifications for recruitment to the judical posts at the lowest rung in the judicial hierarchy. Further, wherever the recruitment of the judicial officers at the lowest rung is made through the public service commission, a representative of the High Court should be associated with the selection process and his advice should prevail unless there ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ce. The State Governments/Union territory administrations are directed to provided adequate quantity of free petrol for the vehicles, not exceeding 100 litres per month, in consultation with the High Court. (f) Para 52(f), page 316: In view of the establishment of the national judicial academy, it is optional for the States to have their independent or joint training judicial institutes. (g) Para 52(h), page 316: In view of the time taken to dispose of the review petitions, following orders were passed: (i) the time to comply with the direction for bringing about uniformity in hierarchy, designations and jurisdictions of judicial officers on both civil and criminal sides is extended upto March 31, 1994; (ii) the time to comply with the directions to provide law books and law journals to all Courts is extended upto December 31, 1993 failing which, the library allowance should be paid to every judicial officer with effect from January 1, 1994, if it is not paid already; (iii) the time to provide suitable residential accommodation, requisitioned of Government, to every judicial officer is extended upto March 31, 1994; (iv) the time to comply with the rest of the directio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s Court in the review judgment, the Government of India by a resolution constituted the first national judicial pay commission under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice K.J. Shetty. As per the said resolution, the following were the terms of reference: (a) To evolve the principles which should govern the structure of pay and other emoluments of judicial officers belonging to the subordinate judiciary all over the country. (b) To examine the present structure of emoluments and conditions of service of judicial officers in the States Union territories taking into account the total packet of benefits available to them and make suitable recommendations having regard, among other relevant factors, to the existing relativities in the pay structure between the officers belonging to subordinate judicial service vis-a-vis other civil servants. (c) To examine and recommend in respect of minimum qualifications, age of recruitment, method of recruitment, etc., for judicial officers. In this context, the relevant provisions of the Constitution and directions of the Supreme Court in All India Judges Association case and other cases may be kept in view. (d) To examine the work methods and wor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e judicial officers. The recommendation was that they should be called "Civil Judge" in place of "Civil Judge (Junior Division)" and "Senior Civil Judge" in place of "Civil Judge (Senior Division)". (3) It further gave recommendation with regard to equation of posts of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and Chief Judicial Magistrate. While it recommended that the Chief Judicial Magistrate should be in the cadre of Civil Judge (Senior Division), in respect of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, it recommended that it should be placed in the carder of District Judge. According to the learned amicus curiae, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and Chief Judicial Magistrate must be in the same cadre equivalent to Civil Judge (Senior Division) and that it should be at par with each other. We shall deal with this aspect slightly later. (4) Recommendations were made with regard to recruitment to the cadre of Civil Judge (Junior Division)-cum-Magistrate first class as well as recruitment to the post of Civil Judge (Senior Division). The recommendation in this regard was that the posts of Civil Judge (Senior Division) should only be filled by promotion. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 50-400-18350/- (v) District Judges Entry Level (II stage ACP for Civil Judges (Sr. Divn.) ₹ 16750-400-19150-450-20500/- (vi) District Judges (selection grade) ₹ 18750-400-191950-450-21850-500-22850/- (vii) District Judges (super time scale ) ₹ 22850-500-24850/- In arriving at the aforesaid pay scales, the commission noted that while fixing the maximum of the master pay scale, it had been constrained by the vertical cap of the salaries of the High Court Judges. In other words, the District Judges could not get more salary than a High Court Judge whose salary was statutorily fixed. It, however, recommended that as and when the salary of a High Court Judge is raised, then the salary of the judicial officers should also be increased by maintaining the ratio which it had recommended. According to the commission, the pay scales recommended by it should be deemed to come into force with effect from 1st January, 1996, but the monetary benefit was to be payable with effect from 1st July, 1996. Other allowances, which the commission had recommended, were to be given effect to from 1st November, 1999. Taking into consideration that there were at present 12771 posts on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Kerala and Mizoram had accepted the recommendations of the Shetty Commission and had agreed to implement the same subject to the Union of India bearing 50 per cent of the expenditure as envisaged in the report. The States of Bihar and Jharkhand had also conveyed that they were accepting the Shetty Commission report subject to the Union of India bearing 50 per cent of the expenditure and the report being further modified and scaled down. Affidavits have also been filed by the States of Andhra Pradesh and Haryana with regard to the scales of pay accepted by them. 10. From the various affidavits which have been filed and the responses given in the Union of India, we find that none of the States has accepted the recommendation of the Shetty Commission with regard to the pay scales in toto. 11. Pursuant to an order dated 27th August, 2001, an affidavit has also been filed by Shri Kamal Pande, Secretary, Government of India, Department of Justice detailing the decisions taken by the Central Government with regard to the judicial officers in the Union territories. According to this affidavit, with regard to the Union territory of Delhi, the pay scales which have been accepted by the Un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Union territories, including the Union territory of Delhi. The pay scales which have now been approved by the Government of India had been formulated on the basis that there should be a parity between the Executive and the Judiciary. Mr. Nariman rightly contended that this basis is contrary to the decision of this Court in the All India Judges' Association case (supra) as well as in the review judgment. It was stated in no uncertain terms that the judiciary could not be equated with the Executive and it must have its own pay structure. 16. Even if we were to examine the two scales of pay, one for the I.A.S. officers after the fifth central pay commission report and the scales of pay recommended for the judicial service, we find that there is a fundamental error which has been committed by the Union of India. The scales of pay approved for the I.A.S. officers are as follows: Junior Scale ₹ 8000-275-13500/- Senior Scale: (i) Time scale ₹ 10650-325-15850/- (ii) Jr. Admn. Grade ₹ 12750-375-16500/- (iii) Selection Grade ₹ 15100-400-18300/- (iv) Super time scale ₹ 18400-500-22400/- (v) Above ST scale ₹ 22400-525-24500/- Secretar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ut in by a judicial officer on his entry into selection grade. It is only the District Judge (super time scale) as recommended by the Shetty Commission which is comparable with the last scale of an I.A.S. officer. 19. From the aforesaid, it is clear, and it is so mentioned in the Shetty Commission report, that the said commission has taken into consideration the recommendations of the fifth central pay commission while determining the pay scales for the judicial officers. In our opinion, the pay scales recommended by the Shetty Commission are just and reasonable. Considering the years of service put in by the judicial officers at different stages, the parity in the scales of pay recommended by the Shetty Commission for the judicial officers with the scales of pay of I.A.S. officers is not, by and large disturbed. In fact, the scales of pay recommended by the Shetty Commission appear to us to be somewhat lower, on the average, than the scales of pay recommended for an I.A.S. officer if we take into consideration, as we must do, the number of years a judicial officer has put in service. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the pay scales recommended by the Shetty Commission should ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he entire expense on the administration of justice in the States is incurred by the respective States. It is their responsibility and they discharge the same. Logically, if there is to be any increase in the expenditure on judiciary, then it would be for the States to mobilize the resources in such a way whereby they can meet expenditure on judiciary for discharging their constitutional obligations. Merely because there is an increase in the financial burden as a result of the Shetty Commission report accepted, can be no ground for fastening being liability on the Union of India when none exists at present. Accordingly, disagreeing on this point with Justice Shetty Commission recommendations, we direct that the entire expenditure on account of the recommendations of the Justice Shetty Commission as accepted, be borne by the respective States. It is for the States to increase the Court fee or to approach the finance commission or the Union of India for more allocation of funds. They can also mobilize their resources in order to meet the financial obligation. If such a need arises and the States approach the finance commission or the Union of India for allocation of more funds, we ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , staff, etc., would also have to be made available. We are also aware of the fact that a large number of vacancies as of today from amongst the sanctioned strength remain to be filled. We, therefore, first direct that the existing vacancies in the subordinate Court at ail levels should be filled, if possible, latest by 31st March, 2003, in all the States. The increase in the Judge strength to 50 Judges per 10 lakh people should be effected and implemented with the filling up of the posts in phased manner to be determined and directed by the Union Ministry of Law, but this process should be completed and the increased vacancies and posts filled within a period of five years from today. Perhaps increasing the Judge strength by 10 per 10 lakh people every year could be one of the methods which may be adopted thereby completing the first stage within five years before embarking on further increase if necessary. 25. The Shetty Commission had recommended that there should be an increase in retirement age from 60 to 62 years, in our opinion, this cannot be done for the simple reason that the age of retirement of a High Court Judge is constitutionally fixed at 62 years. It will not be ap ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the process of recruitment is to be by a competitive examination, both written and viva voce, we are of the opinion that there should be an objective method of testing the suitability of the subordinate judicial officers for promotion to the higher judicial service. Furthermore, there should also be an incentive amongst the relatively junior and other officers to improve and to compete with each other so as to excel and get quicker promotion. In this way, we expect that the calibre of the members of the higher judicial service will further improve. In order to achieve this, while the ratio of 75 per cent appointment by promotion and 25 per cent by direct recruitment to the higher judicial service is maintained, we are, however, of the opinion that there should be two methods as far as appointment by promotion is concerned : 50 per cent of the total post in the higher judicial services must be filled by promotion on the basis of principle of merit-cum-seniority. For this purpose, the High Courts should devise and evolve a test in order to ascertain and examine the legal knowledge of those candidates and to assess their continued efficiency with adequate knowledge of case law. The re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the fact as to when a person is recruited. When roster system is followed, there is no question of any dispute arising. The 40-point roster has been considered and approved by this Court in R.K. Sabharwal and Ors. v. State of Punjab . One of the methods of avoiding any litigation and bringing about certainty in this regard is by specifying quotas in relation to posts and not in relation to the vacancies. This is the basic principle on the basis of which the 40-point roster works. We direct the High Courts to suitably amend and promulgate seniority rules on the basis of the roster principle as approved by this Court in R.K. Sabharwal's case (supra) as early as possible. We hope that as a result thereof, there would be no further dispute in the fixation of seniority. It is obvious that this system can only apply prospectively except where under the relevant rules seniority is to be determined on the basis of quota and rotational system. The existing relative seniority of the members of the higher judicial service has to be protected but the roster has to be evolved for the future. Appropriate rules and methods will be adopted by the High Courts and approved by the States, where ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... which is available is not attracted to the judicial service. A bright young law graduate after 3 years of practice finds the judicial service not attractive enough. It has been recommended by the Shetty Commission after taking into consideration the views expressed before it by various authorities, that the need for an applicant to have been an Advocate for at least 3 years should be done away with. After taking all the circumstances into consideration, we accept this recommendation of the Shetty Commission and the argument of the learned amicus curiae that it should be no longer mandatory for an applicant desirous of entering the judicial service to be an Advocate of at least three years' standing. We, accordingly, in the light of experience gained after the judgment in All India Judges' case (supra), direct to the High Courts and to the State Governments to amend their rules so as to enable a fresh law graduate who may not even have put in even three years of practice, to be eligible to compete and enter the judicial service. We, however, recommend that a fresh recruit into the judicial service should be imparted with training of not less than one year, preferably two yea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for any reason is unable to make allotment or make available official accommodation, then in that event the judicial officer would be entitled to get house rent allowance similar to that which has been as existing or as directed by the Shetty Commission whichever is higher. However, it is made clear that once a Government or official accommodation is allotted to an officer and in pursuance thereof he occupies such an accommodation, he would not be entitled to draw house rent allowance. 35. There are a number of other allowances which have been referred to by the Shetty Commission, some of which have not been accepted by the Central Government. For example, allowance of ₹ 2,500/- to be paid to enable the engagement of a servant by a judicial officer. We do not think such a suggestion made by the Shetty Commission to be appropriate and the Central Government has rightly not accepted the same. Another suggestion which has been made by the Shetty Commission is that 50 per cent of the electricity and water charges of the residences of the judicial officers should be reimbursed by the Government. There is merit in this suggestion subject to a cap being placed so that the 50 per c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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