Supreme Court asks Centre to address issue meagre pension to retired district judge

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to examine the issues in connection with the meagre pension being given to district judges.

A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the Attorney General and the Solicitor General to sit together with the amicus curiae and find a way out.

"We, being the guardian of the district judiciary, urge you to do so," the bench told the top law officers.

The bench said that several petitions are being filed by district judges before the court raising pension-related grievances.

Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Centre, asked the bench to give some time to argue the case related to the pension aspects of district court judges.

The bench said the district judges are only getting Rs 15,000 as pension.

"District judges come to High Courts and generally they are elevated to High Courts at the age of 56 and 57 years and they retire with pension of Rs 30,000 per month," the bench said.

The court also pointed out very few High Court judges get arbitration matters and moreover, at the age of 60 years, they cannot go for legal practice and they do not get arbitration matters.

The bench referred to a case of a district judge, who was suffering from cancer, and termed it an extremely hard case.

Advocate K Parmeswar, amicus curiae in the matter, said that many states have complied with the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) recommendations regarding the payment of arrears of pension and other retirement benefits to judicial officers.

A plea filed by the All India Judges Association sought the implementation of welfare measures for retired judges.

The court fixed the matter for further hearing on August 27.